Editor,
Open letter to Fisheries and Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
Re: Response to British Columbia Wildlife Federation correspondence on the recreational halibut fishery.
Thank you for your Dec. 12, 2017 response to our correspondence to you on Oct. 10, 2017 regarding the recreational halibut fishery.
We are pleased Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) understands the importance of the halibut fishery to the recreational fishing community.
We also understand DFO is responsible for ensuring Canada stays within the domestic total allowable catch (TAC) for pacific halibut based on science advice from the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
Furthermore, we applaud DFO’s efforts to secure a fair domestic TAC for Canada within that negotiating process.
However, we take exception to the notion of “managing the fishery according to the halibut allocation policy.”
This policy is in sharp contrast to a more recent document referred to as the “recreational vision document,” which promises stable and more predictable recreational fisheries in future.
This forward-thinking document considers the needs of the recreational fishery before setting the commercial TAC.
It is concerning to us that this document was signed off, but DFO refuses to implement or support it. An example of DFO’s lack of commitment to a more equitable allocation was reflected in the ill-conceived decision to close the public (recreational) halibut fishery on Sept. 6, 2017.
Going forward, we request that DFO manage the halibut fishery with the public foremost in mind and allocate sufficient TAC to recreational fishing to allow full limits and full season with the remaining TAC allocated to commercial interests.
The controversial “Experimental License Program” introduced eight years ago is flawed and provides the evidence that the commercial fishery has been over allocated. i.e. the commercial harvest continues to be less than the allocated quota with the remaining commercial allocation being sold to the public.
We are advising you that we are considering court action as we believe it is illegal for this common property resource to be sold to the public by the private sector.
It is your department that set up this pugnacious arrangement on behalf of commercial interests without considering the unallocated quota is provided to the recreational sector.
We anticipate the commercial sector will want to be compensated for “loss” of quota.
We do not expect your department to consider such a measure when the resource is not owned by this sector and therefore has no claim.
The quid pro quo would be the recreational sector demanding to be compensated for previous mis-allocation by your department.
Minister LeBlanc, the recreational sector has been ignored and discriminated against by your commercial sector-biased department for far too long.
It is time to right the wrong and allocate sufficient halibut TAC to the recreational angling public.
I would appreciate your response to our proposal in a timely manner that would signal an end to your department’s wrongheaded attitude towards the recreational anglers of Canada.
Harvey Andrusak, president
BC Wildlife Federation