Cheers All,
Unknown has hit my dilemma on the head: On my charters I provide my guests with a memorable experience that they will enjoy and, at the end of the charter, agree that they have received full value for their money. This leads to either rebookings or, at the minimum, my business card being passed to numerous friends who inquire about charters for their party. Part of this 'full service' means that I provide prawn and crabbing opportunities.
I run commercial crab and prawn traps and, should my guests confirm they wish to prawn and crab each guest has at least one crab and one prawn trap to which they may fish as their own. So...on a charter with four persons I will put out 4 crab lines with one pot / line and float. I will put out 4 prawn lines with 2 pots / line and float. Since I am the only staff aboard on this charter, it immediately becomes clear that I am in contrvention of the Fishing Regulations as the gear, which is marked with my name/phone number numbers 4 crab traps (2 over my personal limit) and 8 prawn traps (4 over my personal limit). It is also very difficult to explain to a guest who, admittedly is paying a premium price for the pleasure of fishing our coast, to only put one trap down for every person or every 2 persons when the license he/or she has purchased allows them to have not only the one crab trap but an addtional one. In fact my guests end up fishing exactly 1/2 the number of gear that they are legally entitled to fish under their license.
The difficulty is only on the marking of such gear and here DFO has been intransient in their interpretation of the regulations. I have been dealing with this for months and it has only been in frustration that I have turned to my fellow guides to explore their fixes for this difficulty.
Here is the latest reply from DFO Enforcement:
I have looked at the Regs and see no alternative for marking of 'commercial' sport traps (where the actually fishers name on the gear may change on daily or greater basis). This is the tentative answer I provided Gerry at the local SFAB meeting. Legally the trap must be marked as described: No person shall fish for shrimp/ crab with a shrimp/ crab trap unless a tag, float or buoy that bears the operator’s (fishers) name is attached to the trap. The tag, float or buoy referred to in subsection shall have only one name. The Regs also state the name must be less than 75 mm in height; and in a colour that contrasts with their background, and readily visible at all times without the necessity of raising the gear from the water
UNKNOWN: The gear must be marked in such a fashion that the fisher (person fishing the gear: which is the person whose fishing license will hold the caught quota and not the person who owns the gear) is clearly identified and, as such, having a second float will provide identification concerns and, therefore, is not legally acceptable to DFO. Also...on many days I do multiple charters and simply do not have the room on the boat nor time between charters to add or delete multiple floats.
SEARUN: The packing slip idea is also unacceptable as it does not allow the information to be posted in the correct size nor does it allow DFO Enforcement to check the fisher without touching or lifting the float. The regulations are clear that the information must be able to be read from a distance. Also...it would further contravene the Regulations as multiple fishers names are identified on one trap so as to confuse enforcement as to the correct identity of the fisher concerned on the date in question.
NEDARB2: In fact it is a conravention of the Regulations to have floats that does not specifically identify the person whose licence will hold the quota and NOT the person who owns the gear. It now becomes painfully obvious that many, many, many guides, and many recreational anglers, who let family and friends borrow their gear, are in contravention of the Regulations.
R.S CRAVEN: I also thought that I would not have a problem as I am always in the boat on charters, however, after discussions with DFO Enforcement as well as DFO Senior Staff, I do have a problem and am exposing my company to both seizure of the gear (very expensive) as well as legal difficulties (not what I wish to occur)if I do not comply with their interpretation of the Regulations. Also...since I usually drop my crab gear in one area, move to another area to drop prawn gear and usually end up fishing in a third area, I am not readily available to answer questions when DFO Enforcement see gear that appears to be over the number for an individual harvester.
The Sport Fishing Regulations only identifies two types of fisherman: commercial and recreational. It becomes obvious that commercial and recreational remain the same throughout the life of the gear. They usually do not change names. However the Guide/Client relationship changes on a very frequent basis, usually determined by the vitality of the company. A very busy company will be doing multiple charters a day and multiple charters a week over either an extended summer or even year round.
The Regulations do not identify such activity and, as such, it becomes problematic to comply with regulations that do not even accept the existence of such an identity. The number of Guides and companies that have proliferated along the BC Coast is staggering. DFO has not even identified this valuable asset to the BC economy. Guides are a vital component in the lifeblood of the BC economy and have a significant impact on the Sports Fishing environment.
As a Guide I am simply wishing to comply with DFO so that I may run my business in a successful yet legal fashion. It is also a concern to me that I prevent a problem before it occurs. Several Guides and their companies have been in the courts recently for contraventions of the Fishing Regulations and I certainly do not wish for my company do wind up there. Such a occurence would certainly have far reaching implications including the stigma of such a conviction, the loss of both individual and corporate clients not to mention the financial penalty imposed for such an infraction.
In an effort to preclude such an event, I have proposed a workaround to DFO, so that Guides may fish their gear in a fashion that would allow guests to use said gear. The solution I proposed was that Guides mark their floats with their commercial boat number as well as their name and their phone number. In effect similiar in nature to commercial prawn and crab harvesters. The guide would then keep a Guide Log Book which would include the names, phone numbers as well as licence numbers of all their guests. Then, should DFO Enforcement have concerns about a Guide's complience (having already noticed their "GUIDE" status by the markig of the sets) they could call and ask to see, or have the information forwarded, the information that has been collected to confirm said complience.
Looking for some feedback on this and I thank you in advance.
Fishing Guide
www.invictuscharters.com
BC Outdoors Pro Staff
www.fishingvancouverisland.org
