Sushihunter
Active Member
http://www.canada.com/Quota+system+unfair+should+dismantled/4144520/story.html
Quota system unfair and should be dismantled
Courier-Islander January 21, 2011
An open letter to Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, published here by request.
I am writing to express my concerns with the Pacific halibut quota system. This quota system is harmful and disturbing in many ways, and I urge you to dismantle it.
Halibut are wild fish and common property whose ownership or control should not be transferred to private owners. Allocating 88 per cent of the allowable catch to private holders and limiting the public to 12 per cent offends my sense of Canadian values.
Recreational fishing deserves a higher priority, because it is morally right that the public should have access to our own fish, and because sportfishing produces much greater activity and economic benefits to all. Currently, 80 per cent of halibut anglers are from B.C. and not guided, and of anglers who are guided, 65 per cent are Canadian, so this is an important issue of public domain. The numbers of public halibut anglers and tourists will grow, and that growth should be encouraged. This is not a conservation issue, it is the dividing of the safely allowable catch.
The tourism industry related to halibut fishing cannot plan ahead for this season because of a quota carry-over from last season, cannot tell potential clients if, or when, the threatened in-season closure will take place. This is a great economic harm that affects west coast communities, from fishing guides like me, to hotel and lodge employees, to tackle sellers and marine mechanics. Sportfishing tourism produces the greatest benefit to the economy per pound of catch.
Money paid by commercial fishermen for the right to fish our halibut ought to be directed to fish resource science and management. Instead, most of the halibut catch is producing huge incomes for quota holders who do not fish and were given that quota for free, as you know. How can it be acceptable, even within the commercial sector, that a fishermen can report paying a season average $5/lb to the quota holder, sell fish for $6.50/lb , and have $1.50 left from which to pay expenses? From that I calculate that quotas of 20 to 30,000 lbs. mean 100 to $150,000 in seasonal lease payments to individual quota owners, some have more. Other sources confirm that quota lease payments make up 75 per cent of the landed value. This also makes halibut a very expensive food for consumers. Further, quota privilege can be sold and transferred into greater concentration of ownership for private wealth and control of our wild fish. I appeal to your sense of fairness to end this.
Minister, please, calculate how much money has been paid to halibut quota holders, get the money back, allocate that money to the fish resource for science and management, and dismantle this quota system.
Rick Hackinen
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
Quota system unfair and should be dismantled
Courier-Islander January 21, 2011
An open letter to Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, published here by request.
I am writing to express my concerns with the Pacific halibut quota system. This quota system is harmful and disturbing in many ways, and I urge you to dismantle it.
Halibut are wild fish and common property whose ownership or control should not be transferred to private owners. Allocating 88 per cent of the allowable catch to private holders and limiting the public to 12 per cent offends my sense of Canadian values.
Recreational fishing deserves a higher priority, because it is morally right that the public should have access to our own fish, and because sportfishing produces much greater activity and economic benefits to all. Currently, 80 per cent of halibut anglers are from B.C. and not guided, and of anglers who are guided, 65 per cent are Canadian, so this is an important issue of public domain. The numbers of public halibut anglers and tourists will grow, and that growth should be encouraged. This is not a conservation issue, it is the dividing of the safely allowable catch.
The tourism industry related to halibut fishing cannot plan ahead for this season because of a quota carry-over from last season, cannot tell potential clients if, or when, the threatened in-season closure will take place. This is a great economic harm that affects west coast communities, from fishing guides like me, to hotel and lodge employees, to tackle sellers and marine mechanics. Sportfishing tourism produces the greatest benefit to the economy per pound of catch.
Money paid by commercial fishermen for the right to fish our halibut ought to be directed to fish resource science and management. Instead, most of the halibut catch is producing huge incomes for quota holders who do not fish and were given that quota for free, as you know. How can it be acceptable, even within the commercial sector, that a fishermen can report paying a season average $5/lb to the quota holder, sell fish for $6.50/lb , and have $1.50 left from which to pay expenses? From that I calculate that quotas of 20 to 30,000 lbs. mean 100 to $150,000 in seasonal lease payments to individual quota owners, some have more. Other sources confirm that quota lease payments make up 75 per cent of the landed value. This also makes halibut a very expensive food for consumers. Further, quota privilege can be sold and transferred into greater concentration of ownership for private wealth and control of our wild fish. I appeal to your sense of fairness to end this.
Minister, please, calculate how much money has been paid to halibut quota holders, get the money back, allocate that money to the fish resource for science and management, and dismantle this quota system.
Rick Hackinen
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
