Ardent Angler should buck up if he wants more
Another column from Jeremy Maynard, Ardent Angler, but really a commercial sports halibut operator; another vested interest rant from a fishing guide purporting to speak for the independent angler (North Islander, Dec. 14)
There are two commercial halibut fisheries in BC - the traditional (120 years) commercial fishery which takes the fish to the people, and the new commercial fishery, which takes a much smaller number of people, to the fish. Both depend upon access to the public halibut resource to make money.
The Ardent Angler is in the new commercial halibut category and would like to grow his business by appropriating access from Canadians in the traditional halibut fishery at a time of cyclically declining stocks. He wants other, long established Canadian businesses to shrink so his can grow.
The traditional commercial halibut fishery became limited access in 1979 when DFO issued 435 licences. The commercial sports halibut fishery was essentially nonexistent at this time. The Canadian allowable harvest of halibut was fully subscribed then, as it has been since, and the allowable catch has been taken every year since. Over the past 31 years, virtually all of these have changed hands, at market value as Canadians bought and sold these licences in the course of their lives. There is no 'free' or 'gifted' fish that were unearned, or unpaid for. Commercial halibut fishing businesses must pay an annual DFO licence fee and substantial at-sea and dock side monitoring costs. Businesses such as those run by the Ardent Angler do not pay any fee to DFO nor do they pay any of the costs of monitoring their fishery.
Ardent may not like it, but the halibut resource is fully subscribed (as above), and has been since 1979. If Ardent wants to grow his business, there is a proposal to make traditional commercial halibut quota available to commercial sports halibut business such as his by acquiring it in the open market. Quota changes hands at market value every day as current fishermen, such as myself, expand their operations while others retire and sell out. This is how the Canadian economy works.
I suggest that Ardent and his colleagues encourage their Sports Fish Advisory Board representatives to support the adoption of this proposal, so that he can acquire quota at the same price, and under the same regulatory regime as the traditional commercial halibut fisherman. However, Ardent's position will likely be, why pay for increased access when he can rant and rave and get it for free?
Another factor that Ardent has glossed over is that the government of Canada has purchased and distributed almost 20 per cent of the total Canadian commercial quota to increase First Nations economic opportunities, and in anticipation of the settlement of treaties. Ardent wants some of this fish for his business too, without compensating First Nations or the Canadian taxpayer.
The lodge and charter sector of the recreational halibut fishery, which is the commercial sports halibut fishery, catches about 69 per cent of the total recreational allocation of halibut, leaving just 31 per cent for the real "ardent anglers". If Ardent will just buck up and pay to get into the halibut business, independent anglers will thank him for it, as there will be more halibut for them.
Perhaps then he'll cease his monotonous haranguing of our hard working MP John Duncan over the 2003 Halibut Allocation Policy which was a result of a fair and independent process in which Ardent's SFAB was a fully engaged participant. Read More ...
0 comments:
Post a Comment