LICENSING AND FLEET DEVELOPMENT POLICY 85 



leases carry an appropriate term, the lease holders have a 

 strong incentive, not only to harvest the resource in the 

 most efficient way, but also to manage and enhance it. 

 Under a management plan approved by the fisheries 

 authorities, responsibilities for conservation, manage- 

 ment and harvesting can be delegated to the lessees, as is 

 the case under provincial grazing and forest licences. 

 Thus, the burden of governmental administration and 

 resource management is substantially reduced. With such 

 rights and responsibilities, lessees have an interest in pro- 

 tecting the resource and the habitat from damage by oth- 

 ers. 



This approach presents certain problems, as partici- 

 pants in my public hearings have pointed out. It is clearly 

 most readily applicable to stocks that are relatively 

 immobile, such as shellfish and demersal fish. Highly 

 migratory species would be liable to interception by 

 fishermen outside the lease areas, and so could not be 

 assured to the lessee. Furthermore, if the areas were large, 

 such leases might threaten established commercial fisher- 

 men in the region or tend to create local monopolies. 

 Significantly, however, much of the rapidly expanding 

 salmon industry in Japan is based on fishermen's cooper- 

 atives that operate hatcheries and harvest the returning 

 fish in particular areas. 



I propose in Chapter 1 1 that mariculture leasing be 

 developed for natural stocks that limit themselves to 

 specific areas, for shellfish culture and for other forms of 

 mariculture and ocean ranching. Developments in fish 

 culture offer opportunities for strengthening the eco- 

 nomic base of Indian and other coastal communities, 

 expanded and less seasonal employment in the fisheries 

 and a promising vehicle for more intensive management 

 and enhancement. 



CONCLUSION 



In the following three chapters I build on this general 

 framework with a view toward three broad objectives: to 

 elevate licensing administration to a status consistent 

 with its importance in modem fisheries policy; to 

 advance the licensing arrangements themselves from 

 archaic and demonstrably inadequate forms to ones that 

 will best meet the needs and circumstances of each 

 fishery; and to alleviate the serious problem of excess 

 capacity which has hitherto plagued our major fisheries. 



We do not of course begin with a clean slate, and 

 reforms cannot be implemented without reference to 

 existing policies and problems. In subsequent chapters I 

 propose new licensing arrangements that will build on 

 the existing systems with as little dislocation as possible. 



FOOTNOTES 



1. Reforming Regulation. Economic Council of Canada. Ottawa, 

 1981. p. 74. 



2. See, for example. Journal of the Fishenes Research Board of Can- 

 ada. Volume 36 No. 7. 1979. 



3. Policy for Canada's Commercial Fisheries. Fisheries and Marine 

 Service, Department of the Environment. Ottawa, May 1976. p. 39. 



4. The Fisheries Association of British Columbia, Exhibit #63, p. 44. 



5. Cited in G. Alex Fraser, License Limitation in the British Colum- 



bia Salmon Fishery. Fisheries and Marine Service. Environment 

 Canada, Technical Report Series No. PAC-77-13. Vancouver, 

 1977. p. I. The historical information in this section draws heavily 

 on this publication. 



6. Cited in Fraser, License Limitation, p. 3. 



7. Cited in Fraser. License Limitation, p. 4. 



8. Cited in Fraser. License Limitation, p. 5. 



9. Sol. Sinclair. License Limitation - British Columbia. Department of 

 Fisheries of Canada. Ottawa. I960. 



10. Press Release. Minister of Fisheries. September 6, 1968. 



1 1. P.H. Pearse and J. Wilen, Impact of Canada's Pacific Salmon Fleet 

 Control Program. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Can- 

 ada, Volume 36 No. 7. 1979. p. 764-769. 



12. Pacific Trollers Association, Exhibit #77, p. 24. 



13. Consolidated Regulations of Canada. 1978. c. 824. as amended. 



14. Uni ted Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union, Exhibi t # 1 38. p. L- 1 . 



15. N.B. McKeller. Restrictive Licensing as a Fishenes Management 

 Tool. White Fish Authority. Fisheries Economic Research Unit, 

 Occasional Papers Series No. 6. Edinburgh. 1979. 



16. Peter H. Pearse, Regulation of Fishing Effort . Food and Agricul- 

 ture Organization of the United Nations. Technical Paper No. 197, 

 Rome. 1980. 



