Had problems reading this so I thought I would paste it here, so others could read.
February 22, 2012
We've all had a few days to digest Friday's announcement about the change in DFO's halibut allocation policy and its likely impact on the 2012 recreational halibut fishery and wanted to take this opportunity to address a few more issues.
2012 Season Outlook - As it Stands Now
First, we are genuinely concerned about what the allocation policy will mean for the 2012 fishing season. Assuming that we have a similar catch effort in 2012 as we did in 2011, it seems increasingly likely that the recreational sector will have met its allocation sometime in season. Although the recreational allocation may have increased to 15%, up 3%, the total allowable catch, TAC, for Canada is down from 2011. Without adjustment to the allocation policy itself DFO is potentially implementing what could be the shortest sport halibut season in history. This is not due to conservation concerns, but rather directly related to who "owns" the fish. No longer treated as the common property resource of Canada that it is, the majority of halibut is now essentially owned by private business. The impacts of the decision are far reaching effecting not just anglers but related businesses including motels, restaurants, marinas, boat sales and service, tackle sales and more.
Importantly and unlike commercial fishery needs, the issue is not just about amount of fish but the ability to access it, expectation and opportunity is critical to recreational anglers. Contrary to the title of the DFO announcement, certainty has been eliminated not made greater. Unchanged, this will have a devastating impact on the lodge and charter-boats sector, and will likely foster the kind of gold-rush mentality in the recreational fishery (where anglers are motivated to catch fish early in the season) that the commercial sector has sought so long to avoid. We can only hope that Fisheries will provide us with some additional clarification of their vague release that allows for a strategy for the recreational sector to fish through the critically important summer months in 2012 (and seeks a long term strategy to re-establish certainty of a season that runs from February through December).
Catch Monitoring
Second, we were thoroughly puzzled that Chris Sporer of the PHMA decided to repeat his favorite canard that the commercial halibut fishery is well monitored and the recreational halibut fishery is poorly monitored. The simple fact of the matter is that for the past five years, DFO has placed a very high level of confidence in the quality of the recreational fishery's catch data....so much so that they have been able to use it to impose in-season management measures contrary to the wording of the original 2003 halibut allocation policy.
Interestingly, the only people who agree with the PHMA's catch-monitoring argument are various BC-based environmental groups....the same groups who are deathly silent on longstanding concerns about the staggering by-catch of Chinook salmon and juvenile halibut in the Alaska Pollack fishery. One can only assume that their attitude towards the huge unaddressed by-catch of these trans-boundary species is "what happens in Alaska, stays in Alaska".
Simply put, any suggestion that the recreational halibut fishery is inadequately monitored or lacks quality catch data is bunk!
Not from from the Recreational Sector's Perspective
We are deeply troubled that DFO saw fit to ignore the tremendously consistent message regarding the importance and need for certainty and stability for the recreational sector as delivered over many months and years by many volunteers. The commercial sector has a small group of paid advocates and lobbyists who make their arguments to DFO. The recreational sector, by contrast, relies almost entirely on the work of a broad group of volunteers, most of whom dedicate their time and effort out of a love of fishing. Even though the recreational sector is composed of varied groups, the BC Sport Fishing Coalition, BCWF, SFI and SFAB to name a few, and from all corners of the coast the message was unanimous in its simple request - create certainty and stability for our fishery. The response provided by DFO to this issue has been discouraging. However, we need to take stock of what was accomplished and try to build on the change that DFO made; an increase in allocation for the recreational sector. Could this be one piece of a puzzle that will ultimately lead us to certainty and stability?
Moving Forward
This is continues to be a huge issue to the recreational fishery and is at the core of our rights as citizens to have reasonable, fair and certain expectation and opportunity to catch halibut.
Write, call or e-mail local, regional and national politicians about your concerns. Explain the impact of this allocation decision to you or your business and that you do not support the idea that what was once your right is now being offered for sale by private business through an experimental licence.
The SFAB Halibut Working Group, which includes a number of SFI members, will be meeting with DFO at the end of the week to discuss possible options for moving forward and for striving for certainty and stability for the 2012 season and beyond.
The SFI will continue to work on this issue and will update you when possible.
Backgrounder
More than 300,000 individuals purchase Pacific tidal angling licenses every year in British Columbia. Under DFO's allocation policy, they are entitled to access up to 15 per cent of Canada's annual allowable Pacific halibut catch. By contrast, Canada's 436 commercial halibut licence holders are entitled to harvest 85 per cent of the catch.
In 2012, Canada is entitled to catch up to 7,040,000 pounds of Pacific halibut. First Nations are allocated 500,000 pounds for food, social and ceremonial purposes. Commercial licence holders are allocated 5,559,000 pounds, and recreational anglers are allocated 981,000 pounds.
It is estimated that fewer than half of the 436 current commercial halibut licence holders actually fish for halibut. The other half get paid for leasing their access to Canada's halibut to other commercial fishers.
The new allocation make a slight modification to the 2003 policy upon which DFO is basing this closure was established as an interim step "until both parties can develop an acceptable mechanism that will allow for adjustment of the recreational share through acquisition of additional quota from the commercial sector." The 2003 policy also committed that "there will be no closure of the sport fishery in-season."
