Hey guys, all valid and appreciated comments, just wanted to mention a couple of things to keep in mind when thinking about this...
The people in DFO that are discussing/thinking about this work at a local level. There is currently no local benefit to create more fees to the rec sector in the Pacific Region because all of that money goes to Ottawa through treasury board, it's not controlled or influenced by local DFO staff. The User Fee Act stands in the way of local DFO channelling fees generated from our region back to our region. Changing it is a 2-3 year process with no guarantee of success.
The main reasons that DFO and others have been thinking about this lately are...
1. Catch Monitoring - is the creel survey capturing the guided and unguided components of rec fisheries in each area? Some areas yes, some areas no. Guide logbooks, lodge reports, etc capture some of the guided effort, but there are issues around participation, quality of the info DFO gets back, etc...that need to be worked out if the Department is going to be able to really use this info.
Are there differences in CPUE between guided and unguided trips, again some areas yes, but suprisingly some areas no... DFO needs to know that because it has a Pacific Salmon Treaty requirement to have estimates of salmon catch with acceptable amounts of error. If DFO knew how many guides were operating in an area, and got them or some of them to report their catch they could figure these questions out. This already happens in some places but people don't always participate, why - because they don't have to. Maybe if they were licensed and had to participate they would do a better job of reporting catch...? Some people/outfits already do a great job, others not at all...currently it needs to get better.
2. The perception of the recreational fishery by other stakeholders. I think this one is huge. I don't know how many meetings I have been to where other stakeholders bring up the "out of control recreational fishery". It's unbelievable how many people and groups think our rec fisheries are just growing like mad. If you check the sale of licenses things look pretty flat, maybe even down a bit in some areas...so why would people they think its so out of control? Well the fishery is changing, some areas see more guided trips than they used to. Guides have begun operating in a significant way in some areas where guided recreational fishing effort previously was small...WCVI, QCI, etc...and have ramped up catch in a major way in many places. Guides catch fish, guides advertise, guides tie there boats up in local harbours...there is just a perception that there are a lot of guides out there, probably more than there really are. How many? Nobody knows, but it would be good to know.
How could the DFO find out how many guides there are? One way would be to license them. There are other ways too and are being looked at, but one possibility is by having a license. Why would DFO want to know how many guides/charters there are? Well from a local perspective it would help to put some boundaries on how big this sector really is, so the DFO knows and can consider the needs of the fishery appropriately (think about the 12% Thibeault halibut allocation and the info that was used...some people question whether the decision makers of the day really understood the fishery and the needs of the fishery). It would also be very useful to have some numbers to provide to other stakeholders when they make these outrageous claims that are hard to defend against because the DFO doesn't have the info. There are others too.
Many think that the DFO has no idea how many guides there are and how many fish they catch (a possibility that needs to be known). Not to keep mentioning halibut but think about the whole halibut issue this spring and how much information was being circulated around about our rec fishery...claims of huge guide operations using up the public 12%TAC ...and unfortunately those claims probably linger with people (and I imagine with some decision makers) because there isn't a lot of info on operating numbers to refute those claims. I know that there are quite a few guides/charters on the coast, but doubt there are thousands like I have heard people mention. But currently there isn't any definitive info to be able to defend the rec fishery when other groups make these allegations. Commercial fisherman, First Nations, NGO's can stand up in a meeting and make these claims and the department doesn't have any info to say...well actually there are only 1200 guides on the coast, and this many in this area, and this many in this area....and be able to respond to these claims from people who think that the rec fishery is just massive and nobody knows what they catch...and if you believe that you are part of the problem because it isn't true. Maybe if operators were licensed DFO would know how many there were...who knows? Again not saying licensing is a be all to end all solution, I'm just providing info as to why people are thinking about this.
Ulitmately most people from non-government and government agree that guides/lodges should have an increased responsibility to provide info to help manage our rec fisheries because of their enhanced role in the fishery. How that will be done who knows, but lots of things are being considered and things being tried out (like the SFI guide logbook program in Cambell River, Victoria, etc...) What we do know is that we need to do a better job of describing the recreational fishery, the size of it, the various components of it and whether or not those pieces have good catch information. Thats whats ultimately important, not necessarily the licensing itself.
Thanks for your feedback, try not to get hung up on the tax grab issue. We need to come up with some real solutions because many people are making claims about the fishery that simply aren't accurate.
Also participate in your local Sport Fish Advisory Committee meetings (SFAC), if you want to change things that is how its done in rec fisheries. I will post a list of the meetings in the different areas once the dates are set. Come out.
-gc
