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MINOKSPKIKS 



Over the last 15 \cars, ouc alter aimthcr of the com- 

 mercial species has been subjected to limited-entry licens- 

 ing, as described in this chapter. Nevertheless, a consider- 

 able varieiN olVer imreslncted access; these are listed in 

 Table 10-4. Most ol the.se supix)rt commercial fisheries. 



Tabk* 10-4 Minor species harvested under unrestricted 

 licences 



■iKfaorized under residual (>*C) licences 



gear authorized 



crab (dungenes-s, red rock, gracerui, king), shrimp, trap 

 prawns, octopus 



rockfish, dogfish, skate, flounder and sole, lingcod, hook and line 



Pacific cod, surf and pile perch, turbot, tuna, 



sturgeon 



smelt, eulachon 



aulfaorUed under specified species ("Z") licences', 

 widi vessel 



set gillnet 



clams (razor, butler, littleneck, manila cockles, mechanical 



soflshell. horse) digger or dredge 



•Proposed for 1982. 



Sotrce: Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Exhibit # 143. 



These species have little in common. The Department 

 refers to them collectively as the developing species, but 

 the term is not apt for all of them. Some of them are fully 

 exploited, such as crab, shrimp and groundfish; and 

 some, such as winkles, show no sign of developing. But in 

 the past, as fisheries have expanded and threatened the 

 capacity of particular stocks, the policy has been to 

 remove them from this group and create separate, 

 limited-entry licences for them. 



Any of these species can be fished with a vessel carry- 

 ing a residual species ("C") licence. This licence is a 



catch-all; it covers all fisheries not governed by specific 

 limited-entry licences. It originated at the time salmon 

 ("A" and "B") licences were created in 1%8, and 

 identified vessels licensed to catch species other than 

 salmon. 



These residual species licences are issued annually at a 

 fee of $10 to vessels that held a licence the previous year 

 providing that the vessel recorded a commercial catch of 

 at least $500 in species not covered by other licences dur- 

 ing the preceding two years. The licences are transfer- 

 able, and a licensed vessel may be replaced only with a 

 vessel of no greater length. A moratorium on new 

 licences was invoked in 1976. 



There are now 1054 licences outstanding. But the num- 

 ber of vessels eligible to fish these minor species is much 

 greater than this since all vessels with licences to specific 

 limited-entry fisheries, with the exception of those with 

 either a roe-herring or a spawn-on-kelp licence, may fish 

 residual species. Altogether, the Department estimates 

 that there are 5,000 vessels authorized to fish these spe- 

 cies under present policies. 



These arrangements are obviously unsatisfactory. They 

 effectively leave uncontrolled access to any of the minor 

 species, inviting overfishing and excess fishing capacity as 

 has happened so often in the past. In case after case (her- 

 ring, sablefish. Pacific cod, shrimp, abalone and geo- 

 ducks, among others), a sudden market opportunity has 

 attracted too large a fleet and, by the time the Depart- 

 ment has reacted with a new licence form, far more 

 fishing power than the stocks could support has been 

 grandfathered in. 



The general residual species ("C") licence is therefore 

 an unsatisfactory means of regulating the development of 

 specific fisheries, and it does not enable proper manage- 

 ment of the minor species it covers. Fishing effort 

 directed toward them tends to fluctuate unpredictably in 

 response to the fortunes of the salmon fishery, increasing 

 dramatically in poor salmon years. Most of these stocks 

 are small, and a relatively small increase in the fraction of 

 the eligible fleet directed to them can have a very heavy 

 impact. So can a relatively minor shift in the target spe- 

 cies. Such events cannot be controlled under current 

 licensing policy. 



In search of better arrangements, the Department 

 plans to introduce a selected species ("Z") licence this 

 year. These licences will have most of the features of the 

 residual species ("C") licence except that they require the 

 licensee to specify in advance which species he will fish. 

 This will enable the Department to identify and monitor 

 participants in particular minor fisheries. But they afford 

 no means of coping with the basic problem of controlling 

 access because all commercial fishing vessels will be eligi- 

 ble. The licences to cover fishing without a vessel, shown 



