Wow 21 pages and still going...sure one thing in common tho, lots of interest in this. Like Gil and Pat have said, come to the SFAC's and be part of the discussion. The motions passed there, or even advice/direction in the minutes will be passed up the chain and be part of the discussions at the SFAB South Coast meeting and then onto the mainboard. No decision will be perfect for everybody, that's reality but here's some things for your consideration.
Halibut stamp - great idea, I don't think anybody really disagrees with that, but the reality of it is there is a huge issue getting this passed through Treasury Board, so it's not going to be a reality for 2013. It's in the works but its not going to be a real option for 2013. Stay tuned, it's being worked on.
Max size limits - in order to be effective it would have to be small, prob a lot smaller than you think. Get a copy of the 2011 Canadian Rec fishery Halibut Catch Report - really good info in there. Here's some of it:
Average weights ( from whole season, sample size not an issue) - in pounds
Area 12 - Hardy - 17.9
Area 19 - Vic - 28.8
Area 23/123 - Barkley - 9.2
Area 24/124 - Tofino - 16.1
Area 25/125 - Nootka/Esp - 25.9
Area 26/126 - Kyuquot - 19.5
Area 27/127 - Quatsino - 27.8
Charlottes - 1/2 - 12/23.8
So as you can see, if this is the average size having a max size would have to be on the small side to make a dent in the TAC. Sure there are some big fish in some areas, some areas more than others for sure, but that's some of the data when you average out thousands of halibut samples from 2011 (17,800 sampled in 2011).
Gifting - sure ethically it sounds good, people prob shouldn't be doing it. Does it happen, yes, is it a huge issue, likely not. So if we eliminated would be save a lot? Likely no.
Annual limit - how many people catch more than 6, 8, 10, 20 halibut a year? Prob not many. 1M lbs of TAC is about 100,000 halis at a 10 lb ave or 66,700 halis at a 15lb ave. If we have 300k saltwater licenses and prob about 1/3 of them that fish for halis that's 100,000 people catching 60,000-100,000 halis so that's less than 1 per person if you do the math...any real savings in that? Looks good on paper though.
We as a sector need to find ways of saving 100k+ pounds of hali or more if you want to stay within the TAC, so when you are thinking about proposed management measures keep that in mind, and what we would need to do as a sector to have a full season and stay within our TAC
Polls - FD - great idea, would there be a way that we could put forth all of the results in a 1 pager to the SFAB or the SFI? 1582 people voted and these are the results for this one and this one...that kind of thing? Would be great to bring forward.
Cheers, gc