LICENSING THE SMALLER COMMERCIAL FISHERIES 123 



one country on its fleet would simply result in the other 

 country taking more of the catch. But in 1979, when the 

 division of the catch from the remaining international 

 stocks was specified, this obstacle to controlling the fleet 

 was removed. Moreover, with the catch available to 

 Canadians now greatly reduced, the need to control and 

 reduce the fleet size had become acute. 



The Canadian government therefore imposed restric- 

 tive licensing in the halibut fishery in 1979. New halibut 

 ("L") licences were issued to vessels that had reported 

 halibut landings of at least 3,000 pounds (dressed, head 

 off) in either of the preceding two years. Initially, the 

 landings qualifications had to be met with halibut caught 

 on gear other than troll; the traditional halibut fishery 

 uses mainly longline gear, and this rule was intended to 

 exclude salmon (rollers who caught halibut incidentally. 

 This first eligibility criterion was met by 281 vessels, and 

 another 50 or so were found to be eligible after errors in 

 sales slip information were uncovered. About 400 fisher- 

 men who had fished halibut did not meet the licence 

 requirements and were excluded from the fishery. These 

 were mostly part-time halibut fishermen who operated 

 small boats, and in total they accounted for less than 20 

 percent of the catch.* 



However, shortly after these new restrictions were 

 introduced they were relaxed, and generous grounds for 

 appeal were provided. Because of the difliiculty in deter- 

 mining how halibut had been caught during the qualify- 

 ing period, the exclusion of troll-caught landings from the 

 qualifying catch was lifted. The Minister announced also 

 that appeals would be considered from those who could 

 not meet the landings qualification but could demon- 

 strate "substantial financial dependency" on halibut 

 fishing and could not turn to other fisheries. Also, consid- 

 eration was to be given to vesselowners who could show a 

 "significant financial commitment" to the fishery, includ- 

 ing some who had introduced boats just prior to the new 

 restrictions and therefore did not meet the landings 

 qualifications. The appeal board was faced with a flood 

 of appeals, and some 100 additional licences were 

 approved. 



The result of the low landings qualifications and gener- 

 ous appeal provisions was that, by 1981, the licensed hali- 

 but fleet had grown from 33 1 to 422 vessels, while fewer 

 than 100 vessels had operated mainly in the halibut 

 fishery prior to the introduction of limited entry; this 

 diff"erence is sharpened by the fact that the fleet now has 

 access to only a fraction of the stocks previously avail- 

 able. In addition, 10 special halibut licences are issued 

 annually to Indians who depend on halibut for a 

 significant proportion of their incomes, but do not own 

 the vessels they operate. 



In 1982, the quota available to Canadian fishermen is 

 5.4 million pounds (compared to a catch of more than 30 



million pounds 15 years ago), and because of low stocks, 

 the catch rates have been ver>' low. Furthermore, the 

 landed price this year of $ 1 .25 per pound is the same as 

 the price of three years ago. Thus, the circumstances of 

 the fishery- have deteriorated sharply and are now critical. 

 Recent trends are illustrated in Fiaiure 10-1. 



Figure 10-1 Landings and landed value of halibut 

 1970 



yo 



C 2i 

 Z 



2 



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Z 



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Q 



smce 



20 



l^mdcd \ alu 



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o 



in 

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 o 



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 > 

 a 



u* 



a 

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•«; 



1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 19«) 1981 



Sources: Fi.shenes Slatistics of Bnlish Columbia . Department of Fish- 

 enes and Oceans. Vancouver, various vears. 



Halibut licences are issued annually at a fee of $10 to 

 vessels that were licensed the preceding year and, except 

 for the special Indian licences that are issued to persons, 

 are transferable. They authorize fishing for halibut by 

 hook and line gear (longline and troll) during the open 

 sea.son. A licensed vessel may be replaced the first time 

 with another vessel up to 110 percent of the length of the 

 vessel replaced, though second and subsequent replace- 

 ments are limited by the foot-for-foot rule. 



Incidental Troll Catch 



A particularly aggravating issue relates to the treat- 

 ment of halibut caught incidentally by salmon trollers. 

 Trollers for chinook salmon cannot avoid hooking hali- 

 but occasionally in certain waters, even if they do not 

 target on this species. Trollers who could show landings 

 of 3,000 pounds of halibut qualified for "L" licences 

 when they were initially issued. But in order to provide a 

 larger catch to halibut longline fishermen who were dis- 

 placed from Alaskan waters and to prevent additional 

 catching capacity, the Department has since 1979 prohi- 

 bited trollers from retaining their incidentally caught hal- 

 ibut and from adding longline gear specifically for hali- 



