Halibut Wars

[BigIron]

HiYa Folks,

The battle over access to this once common property resource has now commenced in earnest. Should the situation continue the way it is, recreational halibut fishing will most likely be cut off for all by some time in July. Not at all due to "conservation concerns" as this resource is doing better than most. Nope, the reason for the closure is completely due to the Dino having GIFTED 88% of the annual Total Allowable Catch (TAC) to 436 commercail operators. Many of which do not even bother to set foot on a boat, far preferring to lease their "Gift" at exorbitant rates to those who actually fish.

There are a series of town-hall style meeting being scheduled up and down the coast. Newspaper and magazine articles are out, and there are more to follow.

What the Government has done in the case of this once public resource is WRONG! Turning a public resource into a private commodity to the benefit of a handful of "Armchair" or "Slipper Skippers" must not be tolerated. This is the first step to privatization of all our fisheries folks - a VERY Dangerous trend!

Time to stand up and be counted Folks! Attend the meetings, get your buddies to do the same, write a few letters to your MP's, and get the message out there: We WILL NOT stand idly by and watch our access to common property fisheries be stripped away in favor of the already fat wallets of a handful of Fat Cat commercial harvesters!

A few items of note here:

http://www.canada.com/2010+halibut+s...310/story.html

Dear John, make the call

Related Poll in the Island Courier: Courier Islander

Nog - Engaged Firmly In This One!

[BigIron]

Keep an eye on this site: For Everyone's Benefit..... | Halibut Belong to Canada

Methinks we can make a difference. It will be very much an Uphill Battle, but one we can win if we stick to our guns, and get a LOT of involvement!

Cheers,
Nog

[BigIron]

Here are the options: Halibut Allocation 2011– Update and Forecast

How did we get here?

• 1991 – DFO gifts shares of the common property Canadian Halibut resource to 435 commercial fishermen based on their previous catch history. This was done to remove safety concerns for fishermen and crews that arose from competitive “derby style” fisheries, and to stabilize the supply of halibut to the market.

• 2000 – These same commercial fishermen grow concerned over the “uncompensated reallocation of halibut from the commercial sector to the recreational sector”. It is worth noting that these quota holders never paid a penny for their quota when it was first gifted to them by DFO, and then they wanted to be compensated for providing this same halibut back to its rightful owners – the people of Canada. These cries for compensation for their gifted quota by the quota holders resulted in a series of allocation framework meetings which resulted in the current 2003 Halibut Allocation Policy.

• 2003 – The Thibault Allocation Policy has 3 main components:
- The Canadian TAC available to the commercial and recreational fisheries are split to provide 88% to the 435 original quota holders, and 12% to the 100,000 participants in the public fishery.
- “a 12 per cent recreational catch ‘ceiling’ will be allocated to the recreational sector 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”.
- “I have also made a commitment that there will be no closure of the sport fishery in-season”.

• It is generally agreed based on significant improvements in recreational fishery catch accounting methods over recent years that the recreational catch was underestimated at this time, and that the 12% allocation allowed for little to no growth.

• 2008 – A series of meetings between the commercial sector, recreational sector, BC Ministry of Environment, First Nations representatives, and DFO produced a consensus agreement between the commercial and recreational sectors on a mechanism to transfer quota. This agreement was then rejected by DFO as not meeting the requirements of the “User Fee Act”, and “ministerial authority” requirements under the “Fisheries Act”. It is the assertion of the BCSFC that the real reason for its rejection is simply lack of political will to find a solution.

• Nov 2008. The recreational sector is closed in season for the first time in clear contravention of the 2003 allocation policy.

• 2010 – The Halibut Allocation Transfer Mechanism committee is struck and tasked with finding a solution to what DFO clearly acknowledges is a serious problem with the 88\12 allocation formulae. It produces a series of options. (See page 2)

• Oct 2010 – the recreational fishery is again closed in-season causing serious economic damage to tackle manufacturers, lodges, charters, tackle stores, marinas campgrounds and other service providers to the recreational fishery again, in clear violation of the 2003 allocation policy.

• Nov – Dec 2010 Uncertainty and instability cause further damage to the recreational fishery as the message that “the recreational halibut fishery in BC is closed.”

The Problem:

• For 2011 season, if the recreational fishery was restricted to its current 12% allocation and based on similar catch rates to 2010, if the season was to start on Feb 1st, it would end:

- July 15th with bag limits of 2 per day, 3 possession
- Aug 1st with bag limits of 2 per day, 2 in possession
- August 20th with bag limits of 1 per day, 2 in possession

All of these dates represent the “peak season” for fishing in BC. This would potentially cause economic disaster to many small coastal communities as businesses fail, tourist dollars dry up, and lodges and charters close their doors early.

Remember – all of this could happen in order to ensure that less than 500 individuals continue to reap huge profits from a common property resource they never had to pay for in the first place!

• • The bare minimum considered acceptable to the recreational fishery for the 2011 season is clear:

2 halibut per day, 2 in possession.
Season start – Feb 1st, 2001
Season end – Dec 31st, 2011

Taken from the SFI report on halibut.

[BigIron]

Here's the list of whom to fire your letters off to:

The Honourable Gail Shea
House of Commons
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Parliament Buildings, Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6 Canada
E-Mail: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Members of Parliament

Abbott, Jim (Hon.) AbbotJ@parl.gc.ca Kootenay—Columbia Conservative
Atamanenko, Alex AtamaA@parl.gc.ca British Columbia Southern Interior NDP
Cadman, Dona Cadman.D@parl.gc.ca Surrey North Conservative
Cannan, Ron CannaR@parl.gc.ca Kelowna—Lake Country Conservative
Crowder, Jean CrowdJ@parl.gc.ca Nanaimo—Cowichan NDP
Cullen, Nathan CulleN@parl.gc.ca Skeena—Bulkley Valley NDP
Cummins, John CummiJ@parl.gc.ca Delta—Richmond East Conservative
Davies, Don Davies.D@parl.gc.ca Vancouver Kingsway NDP
Davies, Libby DavieL@parl.gc.ca Vancouver East NDP
Day, Stockwell (Hon.) DayS@parl.gc.ca Okanagan—Coquihalla Conservative
Dhaliwal, Sukh DhaliS@parl.gc.ca Newton—North Delta Liberal
Donnelly, Fin n/a New Westminster—Coquitlam NDP
Dosanjh, Ujjal (Hon.) DosanU@parl.gc.ca Vancouver South Liberal
Duncan, John Duncan.J@parl.gc.ca Vancouver Island North Conservative
Fast, Ed FastE@parl.gc.ca Abbotsford Conservative
Fry, Hedy (Hon.) FryH@parl.gc.ca Vancouver Centre Liberal
Grewal, Nina GrewaN@parl.gc.ca Fleetwood—Port Kells Conservative
Harris, Richard M. HarriR@parl.gc.ca Cariboo—Prince George Conservative
Hiebert, Russ HiebeR@parl.gc.ca South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale Conservative
Hill, Jay (Hon.) HillJ@parl.gc.ca Prince George—Peace River Conservative
Julian, Peter JuliaP@parl.gc.ca Burnaby—New Westminster NDP
Kamp, Randy KampR@parl.gc.ca Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission Conservative
Lunn, Gary (Hon.) LunnG@parl.gc.ca Saanich—Gulf Islands Conservative
Lunney, James LunneJ@parl.gc.ca Nanaimo—Alberni Conservative
Martin, Keith (Hon.) MartiK@parl.gc.ca Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca Liberal
Mayes, Colin MayesC@parl.gc.ca Okanagan—Shuswap Conservative
McLeod, Cathy McLeod.C@parl.gc.ca Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo Conservative
Moore, James (Hon.) MooreJ@parl.gc.ca Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam Conservative
Murray, Joyce MurraJ@parl.gc.ca Vancouver Quadra Liberal
Savoie, Denise SavoiD@parl.gc.ca Victoria NDP
Saxton, Andrew Saxton.A@parl.gc.ca North Vancouver Conservative
Siksay, Bill SiksaB@parl.gc.ca Burnaby—Douglas NDP
Strahl, Chuck (Hon.) StrahC@parl.gc.ca Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon Conservative
Warawa, Mark warawm7@parl.gc.ca Langley Conservative
Weston, John Weston.J@parl.gc.ca West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country Conservative
Wong, Alice Wong.A@parl.gc.ca Richmond Conservative

HARD COPIES are GREATLY preferable! And please do send a copy off to Chris Bos (c.bos@shaw.ca) . He's tracking our efforts. Please Folks, this one is DAMN IMPORTANT!!

TIA!
Matt

[~SteadyGirl~]

What constitutes "gifting"? fishing rights

What is the total anual allowable catch in tonnage or poundage?

How is that quota known to be accurate? Who monitors the catches to make sure nobody is overharvesting?

My concern is that we will fish the ocean clean. Commercial fisheries are rife with scandal.

Can you imagine being a teacher in a cyber class of 300 students,. in 2040 answering the question "What happened to all the Halibut?"

"We ate them" is what the answer will be,.

[BigIron]

Originally Posted by ~SteadyGirl~

What constitutes "gifting"? fishing rights

Taking a Common Property Resource (halibut) that your Ministry (DFO) is mandated to both "protect" and "manage", arbitrarily splitting the Lion's Share (88%) of any allowable catch off from the rest and simply handing that over at No Related Cost to 435 Commercial Operators.

While I agree that back in 1991 something had to be done to combat the Gold Rush type fisheries that often lead to dangerous on-water practices, the Giving-Away of this public resource was not warranted. In fact it borders on criminal.

Since being simply handed that 88%, the new "owners" have turned these quotas into major economic drivers (for themselves), and now steadfastly refuse any "uncompensated reallocation of halibut from the commercial sector to the recreational sector”. They didn't pay a penny for the quota originally. They did turn it into an privately traded commodity with increasingly higher "worth". And now they draw the line at any consideration of returning any portion of said quotas back to it's rightful owners - the General Population of Canada.

What is the total anual allowable catch in tonnage or poundage?

The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) varies from year to year. These are set for each area fished by the International Halibut Commission ( International Pacific Halibut Commission ). The numbers are established by scientific investigation of such parameters as the preceding year's landings (catch per unit effort, age and size structure of catch, etc) and trend analysis of several year's worth of similar information.

How is that quota known to be accurate? Who monitors the catches to make sure nobody is overharvesting?

The scientifically based IHC program is recognized as amongst the best out there for accurately determining potential harvest rates, and for effectively managing the halibut resource. In the case of commercial harvesters, every single rig out there is outfitted with cameras that film ALL the catch when engaged in halibut operations, each individual halibut is tracked, tagged and accounted for from the moment it hits the deck until it lands in the market place.

In the case of the recreational sector, limited creel census are performed over "representative areas" to determine a base catch rate. Then those numbers are extrapolated to the number of boats observed on the grounds via scheduled Fly-Overs. This system is fraught with error. The census figures are often obtained by targeting strictly on guide / lodge operations, and are clearly not representative of every boat out there. And, many of the boats "on the grounds" are targeting other species. Thus the Recreational catch figures are at best suspect, at worst greatly over-estimating the actual landings.

My concern is that we will fish the ocean clean. Commercial fisheries are rife with scandal.

As noted the IHC is very good at their job. In fact the halibut resource is amongst the most robust we have out there as a consequence. And the heavy constraints placed on the commercial operators greatly ensure there is little (actually pretty much non-existent) over-harvesting.

Can you imagine being a teacher in a cyber class of 300 students,. in 2040 answering the question "What happened to all the Halibut?"

"We ate them" is what the answer will be,.

THAT is an extremely unlikely scenario. This is NOT a matter related to conservation, nor dwindling stocks. At this point, and given the IHC continues with it's rather fine performance into the future, the future of halibut themselves appears to be more or less secure.

Instead this very much is a matter of ALLOCATION. 88% literally removed from the Common Property Resource Pool and GIVEN away, leaving a mere 12% for the balance of all other Canadians is the problem. To now demand an economic exchange for returning a portion of the resource to the Common Property Resource Pool is Ludicrous! This allows for no further growth of the recreational sector, one which has well proven the larger economic engine per unit of fish time and time again. In fact when being held strictly to the arbitrarily assigned 12%, recreational operations are now capped annually well before the season ends. The spin-offs are immense for not only guides & lodges, but entire Coastal Communities, equipment suppliers, hotels & motels, B&B's, airlines and yes, the average every day sport fisherman.

It is well past time DFO admits that what it did in 1991 was WRONG! And well past time that focused effort be given to design and implement a much fairer allocation policy that will serve both the needs of the Recreational Sector and the commercial operators into the future. This WILL NOT HAPPEN without a groundswell of support from the General Public. That has been initiated, and is starting to make some inroads. YOUR Support could GREATLY aid the cause!

Without YOUR SUPPORT, the question in 2040 may well be "How come only those commercial boats are allowed to fish for halibut, but we Canadian Citizens no longer can pursue them with a rod and reel?"

The obvious answer at that point will be: Because We Let Them. Really.

Matt

[~SteadyGirl~]

sometimes i need to be spoon fed thanks bigI

i really enjoyed halibut fishing, we used halibut to set the crab traps and crab to catch the halibut. then the guys go down for scallops. exsausting but so much fun and so yummy when fresh like that.

so you will have your letters and emails from me. should kill a couple hours at work tomorrow, it is friday after all.

and we can pretty much count on the loops enviro boy not having a huge workload tomorrow , warm up that keyboard

are we supposed to research every address?

have you already done that?, maybe you can post the addys?

[BigIron]

Originally Posted by ~SteadyGirl~

are we supposed to research every address?

have you already done that?, maybe you can post the addys?

Ummm... Ok then, here's the Spoon Feed!

Post immediately above your first on this thread provides names, addresses and Email addresses. Hard Copy preferable to E's and most of the latter are simply ignored.

Cheers,
Matt

[DLM]

I was wondering how the fisheries even know how many fish are being caught. I know of one guy with a large boat rigged for just about any kind of fish who leaves shore in April and doesn't touch shore again until the end of October. He say there are factory ships outside the 200 mile limit that buy any fish and can re supply them. But then he might be B.Sing

[the rifleman]

Originally Posted by DLM

I was wondering how the fisheries even know how many fish are being caught.

As far as the recreational fishery, there is no set way of them being 100% sure of the harvest numbers. Commercial fishing for almost all species, harvest numbers is now counted much better than it used to be. An "observer" is often sent out on the fish boat for the duration of the season. His/her salary is paid for by the Fisheries Dept., but food costs are absorbed by the boat owner, and lodging must be provided. As mentioned previously, on-board cameras is the other option many boat owners have chosen, rather than having an observer on board. Smaller boats with limited crew space more often choose this route. The camera is apparently triggered automatically when certain gear is turned on, (winches perhaps?), and records the catch. The fisherman is required to tag and measure each fish, in view of the camera.

I have a cousin who is a boat owner, that has a halibut license. Previous to the mandatory observer/camera, he used to sell privately to friends and family, some of his halibut catch. He can no longer do that, as Big Iron mentioned, each fish is now tracked..sucks big time for me, as I love halibut.

He had an observer on board, the first season it was mandatory, but decided to use the camera system after that. He said the observer didn't lift a finger on the boat, and consumed lots of grub. His boat is fairly small, so the addition of another body on board caused some other issues as well.

[BigIron]

Originally Posted by DLM

I was wondering how the fisheries even know how many fish are being caught. I know of one guy with a large boat rigged for just about any kind of fish who leaves shore in April and doesn't touch shore again until the end of October. He say there are factory ships outside the 200 mile limit that buy any fish and can re supply them. But then he might be B.Sing

In the case of commercial fisheries they are extremely tightly monitored. Cameras, sometimes observers, and tightly regimented dockside validation ensure that pretty well every single fish that is landed is identified, tagged and tracked.

In the case of the recreational sector, as the Rifleman suggested above, the tracking is problematic to say the least. DFO "guesstimates" the number harvested by the recreational fleet through a combination of collected information sets. There are creel surveys that occur in several locations through the season. These are sporadic at best, often focus chiefly on guided trips (which are not reflective of the average angler's catch) and usually only occur at peak season. To suggest this is an "accurate" estimate would be in gross error.
The creel information is then applied against "fly-over" boat counts, basically just what that suggests - DFO flies over the presumed halibut fishing grounds, counting the number of boats out there. Many of the rigs they count are engaged with fishing other species, however DFO uses this information to "estimate" sport fishing effort. Once they have come up with a number of boats, they then apply the average catch obtained by the creel census to come up with an overall harvest number.

The latter method is fraught with potential errors pretty well every step of the way. Creel census are not comprehensive, and often inflate the actual realized catch by targeting almost solely on the more efficient guided trips. Many boats counted in the fly over are not engaged with fishing halibut. So in any given season, the actual catch may (and often does) vary widely from what was really landed. This year was such a case IMO. Due to the restrictive limits imposed this past season, the majority of our clients did not want to venture well offshore to pursue but a single halibut, preferring instead to focus on the great salmon fishing of the inshore waters. This phenomena was not limited to Ucluelet (where I operate from) but pretty well coast-wide this season. In the discussions amongst the guides following the season, the most common discussion regarding halibut was the fact that the efforts directed towards that fishery were down by a significant magnitude from almost every port. Yet DFO, employing their flawed system of "guesstimating" catch, decided that once again the recreational sector had surpassed it's allowable catch figure. Most of those who spend any significant time on the water firmly believe this assumption to be in error.

There has to be a better method of accurately counting the recreational sector's real impact. That is being discussed and worked towards, as the current system is completely unreliable. There is also thought being given towards imposing a tag type of system (such as employed with springs in BC) to further accountability for this sector.

The bottom line here is that the government should not have simply given away access to a Public Resource, thereby turning that into a Privately Traded Commodity that has grown immensely in economic worth. Given the Bang for The Buck for each sport caught fish is so much higher than those landed by the commercial operations, it would make sense to ensure that the greater economic engine should receive the greater support. That is not happening today. Guides and lodges have been greatly effected in that not knowing just when DFO will arbitrarily decide to shut the fishery down - it is damn difficult to run a business under such uncertainty. And for the general population of anglers, it has become extremely difficult to plan trips for halibut fishing when you simply cannot rely on that option even being open.

So, it is well overdue that the current system receives some rather intense scrutiny and is subsequently revamped to address a more equitable sharing of harvest amongst the user groups. That effort is now underway. Of course this is being fought by both the commercial operators and DFO. Beginning to look like political pressure may be the only method to get anything positive accomplished. To that end, the more letters we get sent to those I noted above, the better off all anglers will be in the future.

If you wish to target halibut down the road, I'd strongly suggest penning a few letters noting that. If you decide not to do so, you will have no leg to stand on when that option is simply taken away...

Cheers,
Iron

PS: As for your last comment DLM, IF the fellow you mention is actually operating as you suggest, he is doing so outside of the confines of the Fisheries Act, therefore a Poacher. More likely you had it right that he was simply BS'ing...
Cheers

[BigIron]

Important Town Hall Meeting January 18th
7:00 PM Beban Auditorium, Nanaimo

A totally inadequate, biased allocation system of Canada’s halibut will create a short season disaster for all of us. Come to hear the facts, and find out what you can do about it. Halibut is the concern now, but other species are scheduled for the same treatment by DFO….We need to send a message immediately that this is unacceptable.

Guest speakers will outline the issue, a panel representing several segments of the public fishery will give their perspectives and there will be an open mike session where you can ask questions and offer your comments, and suggestions.

There will be a raffle for a number of prizes, draw at the end of the meeting to help pay the costs of the hall rental. Come and bring a friend, this may be the most important contribution you make to future fishing for all of us.

EITHER WE STAND UP NOW OR BE STOOD UPON FOREVER!

[BigIron]

Time to get off our butts, get a few letters in and attend a meeting or two folks!

Important Public Town Hall Meetings Announced:

Ucluelet: January 6th 7pm Ucluelet Sea Plane Base Hall

Victoria: Jan 12th Location TBA

Nanaimo: Jan 18th Beban Park Auditorium

Victoria: Jan 19th, Location TBA

Hope to see some of you there!

Cheers,
Nog

[BigIron]

There was an excellent turn-out at the Courtney/Comox meeting with well over a hundred concerned citizens in attendance. It was a very informative gathering, and the presentations from both organizers and attendees were first rate. Most present noted they will soon be firing off those all important letters if they haven't already.

More meetings are scheduled for the Island, all start at 7:00pm:
Ucluelet: January 6th Ucluelet Sea Plane Base Hall
Victoria: Jan 12th Sheraton 4 Points Victoria – West Shore Ballroom
Nanaimo: Jan 18th Beban Park Auditorium
Campbell River: Jan 19th Marine Heritage Centre 621 N Island Highway

TOWN HALL MEETINGS | Halibut Belong to Canada

Note that the final meeting is to be held in Campbell River, the home riding of John Duncan, one of the chief engineers of the fiasco we live under today. Just this morning a movement amongst those working for this cause was initiated to get as many as possible to that meeting to drive the point home to this man: Caravan to campbell river
Methinks Mr. Duncan should wake up and smell the coffee. The situation he directly created is spinning out of control. With a margin of less than 2,400 votes in the last election, should he chose not to do so, he is likely enjoying his last moments as an MLA. Any that would like to get in on this one, feel free to either post on the relevant thread noted above, or shoot me a PM. I am sure something can be arranged to accommodate.

If this issue is of concern to you, I strongly suggest you attend these meetings.

The letter campaign also continues, and for those concerned in this regard, I do suggest firing off a letter or two to the relevant government officials. The more of us that get behind this initiative, the better our odds of capturing the attention of those with the ability to change the current undesirable situation.

Cheers,
Nog

[CanuckShooter]

Sounds a bit like Bull Moose tags in the interior...the guides get them to sell , while we have to apply for LEH tags, and most of us are not lucky enough to get drawn. I wonder if that is next in the cards for halibut??