Halibut experimental Licence meeting info!

[richmake]

I simply had the info below forwarded to me second hand so take for what it's worth and investigate yourselves.
I personally will be attending at least two of these meetings to voice my disapproval.

Hi Folx
You will recall last year we had planned on having public information sessions for the experimental recreational halibut fishery however they were cancelled due to the election. The plan is to go out this April to provide information on the program and the Department's plan for longer term implementation as per the Minister's announcement last month. Your participation will be important at these meetings. We will be going through the deck on our website (with some minor adjustments) and ads hopefully will be going into local papers by the end of the month.

Here is the schedule of meetings (6:30-8:00pm):

Ucluelet - Ucluelet Community Centre - Monday, April 16th
Campbell River - BC Marine Heritage Centre - Tuesday, April 17th
Port Hardy - Civic Centre - Wednesday, April 18th
Victoria - Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel - Thursday, April 19th
Queen Charlotte City - Queen Charlotte City Community Centre - Monday, April 30th
Prince Rupert - Highliner - Tuesday, May 1st

This is a heads up - more information to come….
Thanks
Tamee
Tamee Karim | Fisheries Management
Regional Manager, Groundfish
Fisheries & Oceans Canada
200 - 401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3S4
Tel: 604.666.9033 | Fax: 604.666.8525
Email: tameezan.karim@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

[OldBlackDog]

You all need to go and ask what they are selling quota for that was not bought in the first place.
Further you need to raise hell about the fact that all canadians only got 15% when the fish belong to the people.
Dfo is to look after them not sell them.

I simply had the info below forwarded to me second hand so take for what it's worth and investigate yourselves.
I personally will be attending at least two of these meetings to voice my disapproval.

Hi Folx
You will recall last year we had planned on having public information sessions for the experimental recreational halibut fishery however they were cancelled due to the election. The plan is to go out this April to provide information on the program and the Department's plan for longer term implementation as per the Minister's announcement last month. Your participation will be important at these meetings. We will be going through the deck on our website (with some minor adjustments) and ads hopefully will be going into local papers by the end of the month.

Here is the schedule of meetings (6:30-8:00pm):

Ucluelet - Ucluelet Community Centre - Monday, April 16th
Campbell River - BC Marine Heritage Centre - Tuesday, April 17th
Port Hardy - Civic Centre - Wednesday, April 18th
Victoria - Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel - Thursday, April 19th
Queen Charlotte City - Queen Charlotte City Community Centre - Monday, April 30th
Prince Rupert - Highliner - Tuesday, May 1st

This is a heads up - more information to come….
Thanks
Tamee
Tamee Karim | Fisheries Management
Regional Manager, Groundfish
Fisheries & Oceans Canada
200 - 401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3S4
Tel: 604.666.9033 | Fax: 604.666.8525
Email: tameezan.karim@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

[profisher]

I'm sure a few uninformed looky lou's will be there...it is an opportunity for those who are informed to get them up to speed and to once again blast DFO.

 

[lorneparker1]

I will 100% be at the CR one.

 

[Whole in the Water]

I simply had the info below forwarded to me second hand so take for what it's worth and investigate yourselves.
I personally will be attending at least two of these meetings to voice my disapproval.

Hi Folx
You will recall last year we had planned on having public information sessions for the experimental recreational halibut fishery however they were cancelled due to the election. The plan is to go out this April to provide information on the program and the Department's plan for longer term implementation as per the Minister's announcement last month. Your participation will be important at these meetings. We will be going through the deck on our website (with some minor adjustments) and ads hopefully will be going into local papers by the end of the month.

Here is the schedule of meetings (6:30-8:00pm):

Ucluelet - Ucluelet Community Centre - Monday, April 16th
Campbell River - BC Marine Heritage Centre - Tuesday, April 17th
Port Hardy - Civic Centre - Wednesday, April 18th
Victoria - Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel - Thursday, April 19th
Queen Charlotte City - Queen Charlotte City Community Centre - Monday, April 30th
Prince Rupert - Highliner - Tuesday, May 1st

This is a heads up - more information to come….
Thanks
Tamee
Tamee Karim | Fisheries Management
Regional Manager, Groundfish
Fisheries & Oceans Canada
200 - 401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3S4
Tel: 604.666.9033 | Fax: 604.666.8525
Email: tameezan.karim@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

I would like to strongly encourage all oppponents to attend these upcoming meetingsin your local area to politely and factually express your concerns at of this flawed, poorly thought out program. Get your friends to join you to have a strong showing of displeasure at this program and voice our democratic free speech rights at the same time!!!

 

[JuandeOne]

I would like to strongly encourage all oppponents to attend these upcoming meetingsin your local area to politely and factually express your concerns at of this flawed, poorly thought out program. Get your friends to join you to have a strong showing of displeasure at this program and voice our democratic free speech rights at the same time!!!

Oh Larry, another meeting...ok then. I'm just not very good at the polite part. I may risk getting escorted out of this one to get some media action. lol

 

[juandesooka]

I can't attend that meeting in Victoria, unfortunately. I have re-sent Tamee my email from a month ago ... which I confirmed was never received at the "groundfishin@" email address on their site (unclear is the g is supposed to be missing or not!)

There's the obvious political objections to this program -- from those who believe the common resource should not be "sold" to slipper skippers and so on. But that's politics, some will agree, some will disagree, will never find a solution that makes all parties happy.

BUT, beyond the politics, I believe this program is fundamentally flawed in that creates an open ticket for completely uncontrolled over-fishing by villainous types. Even if you believe the transfer mechanism is reasonable, I believe it will not work ... the slipper skippers won't get paid and the halibut resource conservation will be worsened. At worst, this quota transfer will remove the little control DFO now has.

Below's my thoughts for DFO ... if you agree, then please raise it at the meeting!

Hello

I am writing about the Recreational Experimental Halibut License Program:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/...halibut-fletan/docs/2012/presentation-eng.htm

I know this program is very controversial in the recreational fishing sector, in terms of the fairness of the commercial/recreational allocation. However, beyond these concerns, I am very concerned about how this program will operate and the potential for serious conservation issues.

As I read it, the rules for this program:

You sign up and then need to arrange for "a temporary reallocation of quota", minimum 1 pound.
If you catch above this, you then need to reconcile your total by Jan 31, 2013.
If checked by DFO and have more than rec limit, showing you are enrolled in this program will suffice to show you are not in contravention of daily/possession limit.
License holder must keep a logbook of catches, submit within 7 days. However, it is not clear in the regs how soon after the fish are caught they must be recorded and the penalties for non-compliance.

My concern:

By arranging for 1 pound of quota, the license holder effectively has the legal ability for fish for all the halibut they want, with no limits, no season, and pay later.
Current conservation laws make it a crime simply being in possession of too many fish or at the wrong time, so enforcement is possible simply by a check of possession. This is no longer the case for license holders.
If it so happen that no one from DFO reviews a license holder's catch, there is a huge incentive to cheat and not declare it. It is already exceptionally rare to see DFO enforcement staff on the west coast, especially in the more remote fishing areas, so as I see it, there is virtually no chance of cheaters getting caught. If not reviewed or caught, the cheating license holder keeps the fish, no further quota is purchased, and no one is the wiser.
In the very small chance that a cheater were caught, they would simply declare they haven't yet recorded the halibut in their logbook, as they have 7 days to do so.

I believe that the vast majority of recreational anglers are honest and ethical and will follow the rules. I also know there are some bad eggs who abuse the system and the resource, and will only follow the rules if the consequences of getting caught are significantly serious. Historically, simply being in possession of too many halibut is a crime -- and we've seen anglers caught and charged based on dockside checks. Now, should these bad eggs instead sign up for this program, under the rules as published, I see virtually no realistic chance of their being caught for this kind of misconduct. And with no risk, the bad eggs will pursue it.

This is not a problem at the moment, because of the general refusal of the recreational sector to pursue this program. But if it catches on, as DFO apparently hopes, I believe this license system potentially opens the door to rampant, uncontrolled over-fishing with virtually no enforcement possible. At the extreme, this program gives the abusers the ammo they need for a conservation disaster -- the very opposite of what you are intending. The recreational sector has checks and balances in place to keep people honest; this program in effect removes these.

At minimum, I believe DFO must publicly state stringent rules for immediate recording of catch, such that failure to immediately produce this record is a violation of the program, with extremely strict compliance ... zero tolerance. Violation of this program must also have extremely serious penalties -- such as immediate seizure of all fishing gear, seizure of the fishing vessel, and criminal charges. These consequences must be made clear, publicly stated, such that these potential offenders are "scared straight" right from the start. Being realistic, the chance of getting caught is still very low given the scarcity of enforcement staff -- but with the penalties so high, this will hopefully bring some of these likely offenders in line.

I must point out that I'm not a supporter of this program in principle. But I am forwarding these concerns because I see it as a very serious risk in pursuing the program as proposed.

 

[chris73]

JDS, you forgot one fundamental point which is that DFO does NOT care a bit about conservation. That is (rightfully) left in the hands of the IPHC in the case of halibut. So if DFO, who is in charge of enforcement within Canada, has no means of detecting fraud then no fraud will be reported and does not exist after all. And should stocks tank then it will be IPHC's problem and DFO will wash its hand in innocence. Your arguments are completely ill directed at DFO.

 

[Lipripper]

Not sure I follow you chris... IPHC has nothing to do with enforcing law.

That is DFO's job... I read that as implementing a program (law) that they can't enforce..

Your arguments are completely ill directed at DFO.

Thats where you lost me?