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CHAPTER 16 



ENFORCEMENT 



The credibility of the Department is at stake 

 if it is generally perceived that we cannot or 

 will not protect the resource. Non-enforce- 

 ment breeds lawlessness and penalizes the 

 lawful. The resultant breakdown in law and 

 order makes the job of stock management 

 extremely difficult as disrespect for the law 

 quickly transfers into disrespect for the regu- 

 lators. 



DEPARTM ENT OF FISHERIES AND CXTEANS' 



Enforcement of the Fisheries Act and regulations cuts 

 across most aspects of fisheries policy. All other arrange- 

 ments for protection and management will be futile 

 unless users and others whose activities threaten fisheries 

 resources are effectively regulated. 



Participants at the Commission's hearings repeatedly 

 expressed serious misgivings about the Department of 

 Fisheries and Oceans' performance in enforcing the laws 

 and regulations it administers. They referred to the 

 Department's tolerance of blatant violations, lack of sup- 

 port for the enforcement effort and inadequate training 

 of fishery officers. One participant concluded that 

 "enforcement is looked on as a poor relative, maintained 

 at, or just above, the f)overty level. A necessary evil that 

 is to be tolerated at best."- Submissions at my public 

 hearings and the Commission's review of the Depart- 

 ment's policies and procedures have persuaded me that 

 the enforcement program has been sufliering from severe 

 neglect. 



This chapter examines the enforcement practices and 

 capabilities of the Department and the courts, and 

 recommends means to improve their effectiveness. Other 

 chapters deal with enforcement issues as they arise in 

 relation to specific fisheries and other activities. This 

 chapter focuses on enforcement generally. 



ENFORCEMENT OBJECTIVES AND CHALLENGES 



Penal legislation can be designed to accomplish one or 

 more of several aims: to punish those who perform a 



forbidden activity; to satisfy society's desire for retribu- 

 tion against, or denunciation of oflTenders; to rehabilitate 

 the offender: and to deter potential offenders from per- 

 forming the illegal activity in the future. For fisheries, 

 where the Department's first responsibility is to conserve 

 the resource. I have concluded that the most important 

 objective of the enforcement effort must be deterrence. 



Enforcement may be broken into two broad categor- 

 ies: one is detecting and apprehending oflTenders; the 

 other is prosecuting oflTenders and assigning penalties. An 

 effective deterrent requires potential offenders to perceive 

 that action from both categories will be certain and 

 severe if they break the law. Detecting and apprehending 

 offenders is futile if the penalty that results fails to 

 counterbalance the rewards of the illegal activity. Simi- 

 larily, enacting severe penalties is futile if the risk of 

 detection and apprehension is minimal. 



in the Pacific region, the dimensions of the Depart- 

 ment's regulatory responsibilities are vast. Regulating 

 commercial fisheries involves such things as vessel licens- 

 ing, restrictions on gear, the manipulation of open and 

 closed areas and of fishing times, and fish quality stan- 

 dards. The Department is faced with ensuring that these 

 often technical and complex provisions are complied 

 with by thousands of commercial fishermen. Regulating 

 the sport fishery involves ensuring that bag and size lim- 

 its, gear restrictions, licensing requirements and area clo- 

 sures are complied with by over 300 thousand anglers. 

 Regulating the Indian fishery calls for, among other 

 things, enforcing limits on fishing times and preventing 

 the illegal sale of fish. The Department's responsibilities 

 also include protecting fish habitat in the face of large 

 scale development of other resources in the Pacific 

 region. 



The task of rigorously enforcing these laws is compli- 

 cated by a number of factors. First, the area policed is 

 enormous. The Pacific region covers all of British Colum- 

 bia and Yukon, as well as the Pacific Ocean to 200 miles 

 off"shore. The coastline and rivers of British Columbia 

 present literally thousands of points for clandestine fish 

 landings and other illegal activities; and potential oflTend- 

 ers can use small and highly mobile vessels and vehicles. 

 The diflRculties of creating a sufficiently visible enforce- 

 ment eflTort over such a wide area are obvious. 



Second, the economic incentive to fish illegally has 

 risen dramatically in recent years. For example, recent 

 estimates indicate that one day's illegal fishing can yield 

 up to $800 for a commercial troller or gillnetter and up to 

 $10 thousand for a seiner. For herring fishermen the 

 rewards may be three times as high.' This pattern of 

 potentially high rewards is repeated for other commercial 

 fisheries, such as halibut longliners and trawlers, and for 

 unlicensed poachers of abalone and salmon. In addition 



