LICENSING AND FLEET DEVELOPMENT POLICY 81 



transferability and criteria for renewability and replace- 

 ment. Moreover, in the more important fisheries the sys- 

 tem has obviously failed in its primary purpose of con- 

 trolling fleet expansion. 



To bring some order to this important part of commer- 

 cial fisheries policy, a clear statement of the purp)oses and 

 objectives in regulating fishing privileges is needed. The 

 following paragraphs identify these basic purposes and 

 objectives, which therefore provide a framework for eval- 

 uating the strengths and weaknesses of present licensing 

 arrangements. The components of this framework follow 

 from those aspects of the Commission's terms of refer- 

 ence that stress the need to protect the public interest in 

 fish utilization; to ensure that the method of granting 

 fishing privileges will promote proper resource manage- 

 ment and conservation, equity, and eflficient fleet devel- 

 opment; and to ensure that charges for the right to fish 

 commercially are consistent with the value of the 

 resources utilized. 



Resource Management and Coaservation 



Licensing arrangements, like other aspects of fisheries 

 policy, must be designed to facilitate proper resource 

 management and to conserve the fish resources. These 

 requirements entail the following. First, the total catch 

 must be controlled to protect the stocks from depletion. 

 Second, the composition of the catch must be controlled. 

 This is because the sustainable yield from a stock of fish 

 usually depends not only on how many fish are caught, 

 but also on what fish are caught (in terms of age and size) 

 when they are caught and where. This means that fishing 

 gear, time and areas must all be regulated. So any licens- 

 ing system must accommodate these requirements. 



Fleet Development 



The licensing policy must also be designed to promote 

 efficient development of the fishing industry. In the past, 

 in order to control the total catch, the harvesting ability 

 of the fleet was progressively reduced through restrictions 

 on fishing time and gear. Such controls can certainly 

 reduce effective fishing effort, but they are a highly 

 inefficient way of doing so from both a technical and 

 economic point of view. Simply preventing the ffeet's 

 capacity from expanding beyond the level required to 

 efficiently harvest the catch would be much better. 



So a licensing system should provide the means to pre- 

 vent fleets from expanding excessively. 



Indeed, this must be the primary aim in all those fisher- 

 ies that have been permitted to overexpand, because as 

 the major organization of fishermen points out, this is the 

 most urgent problem. 



The central internal problem facing the com- 

 mercial fishing industry is one of over- 



capitalization . . . overcapitalization is the 

 plague that robs fishermen of a decent living 

 and ultimately applies increased pressure on 

 fish stocks.''' 



I would add that it robs other Canadians of their due 

 return from their fish resources as well. 



It is important to recognize that the problem of overex- 

 pansion is not simply one of too many boats, as is some- 

 times suggested; controlling numbers of vessels will not 

 limit a fleet's capacity if their individual fishing power is 

 allowed to expand. Moreover, the economic problem 

 does not anse from the expansion of fishing power as 

 such but from the unnecessary cost of too much labour 

 and capital employed in fishing. This is important 

 because the fishing capacity of a fleet might be restricted 

 by limitations on vessels, gear and fishing time, yet 

 investment and the costs of fishing might continue to 

 grow (as we have .seen from long experience). Economic 

 rationalization of the fleet calls for measures to ensure 

 that no more labour and capital will be expended in 

 fishing than is required to harvest the catch, so that costs 

 will not be excessive. This must be the pnmar> objective 

 of a licensing policy and the main criterion for evaluating 

 its success. 



In addition, the licensing policy must ensure that the 

 fleet distributes itself eflticiently among stocks and fishing 

 grounds; and it must promote, or at least not impede, the 

 development of an eflFicient and competitive processing 

 industry-. 



These considerations are not independent. Efficient 

 organization of the primary fishing sector to harvest the 

 catch at low cost will provide scojje for increased returns 

 to labour and capital throughout the fishing industry, and 

 provide the best opportunities for successfully competing 

 in world markets for fish products. 



Flexibility 



The fishing industry is susceptible to rapid changes in 

 markets, in fishing technology, and in the availability of 

 the resources themselves. Fisheries policy must recognize 

 this instability, and licensing arrangements must be 

 adaptable to unforeseeable changes in circumstances 

 without depending on continual governmental interven- 

 tion. This implies, for example, a system that will allow 

 the fishing industry to respond to changes in technology 

 or prices without setting off" a wave of unproductive 

 investment, and that will allow regulators to change the 

 allowable catch in light of resource requirements without 

 abrogating established rights. 



Security 



Fishermen and vesselowners are vulnerable to shifts in 

 the industrial environment that are beyond their control. 



