POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND REVIEW 257 



The second problem concerns regulations relating to 

 commercial fisheries management. Under their current 

 structure, the regulations define a number of fisheries 

 management areas on the Pacific coast and stipulate the 

 closed fishing times for them. The Director General has 

 the authority to vary closed times for any area; this is 

 how, for example, salmon fisheries are opened and closed 

 during the season. 



However, this technique is cumbersome for effective 

 management, which often requires regulating fishing in 

 small areas to protect specific stocks. An infinite number 

 of areas on the coast could be selected for openings and 

 closures, and the requirement that areas be formally 

 described in regulations is too rigid. This is. incidentally, 

 an especially urgent matter in the fisheries of the Pacific: 

 in the intensive roe-herring fishery, for example, adjusting 

 the boundary of an opening by a short distance can have 

 crucial management implications. So the areas should not 

 be defined in the regulations; regional oflicials need the 

 authority to adjust them flexibly. 



This problem was identified in a 1980 report of a stand- 

 ing joint committee of the Senate and House of Com- 

 mons.- which recommended amendments to federal legis- 

 lation that would allow for more flexibility. This 

 deficiency should be rectified without further dcla>. So 1 

 recommend that — 



5. Department officials in the Pacific region should be 

 autlM>rized to designate areas to be subject to HslK'ries 

 openings and closures. 



Licences In this report I have recommended that cur- 

 rent commercial licences be replaced by limited-entr>' 

 and quota licences and mariculture leases. And in Chap- 

 ter 14, I recommended a new system of permits and 

 agreements for Indian fisheries. These will be the point of 

 contact between the government, that must authorize 

 access to the resources, and the fishermen who utilize 

 them. 



I recommended in Part III that the new licensing 

 arrangements be in place for the 1983 fishing season. 

 Therefore — 



6. The Department should inuiiediately prepare Indian 

 fisher> agreements and permits (reconunended in 

 Cliapter 14) and new commercial fishing licence docu- 

 ments and establish administrati\e arrangements for 

 issuing new long-term limited-entr> and quota 

 licences and mariculture leases (proposed in Part III). 



The commercial licences should be relatively simple 

 and short documents, identifying licensees and species to 

 be fished and, where appropriate, designating vessels and 

 fishing zones. Mariculture leases will be more involved, 

 requiring detailed fisheries management planning. Indian 

 fishery agreements will be complicated also, and should 



be prepared in close consultation with the bands and the 

 Indian fishery advisory committee, recommended in 

 Chapter 17. The Indian permits should be simple to pre- 

 pare. 



Expediting Reform 



Implementing the wide-ranging recommendations in 

 this report will be a major undertaking for the govern- 

 ment, affecting virtually all of the Department's adminis- 

 trative units in the Pacific region and Ottawa, and other 

 government agencies. This task must begin at once and 

 proceed systematically. Delay will be costly in terms of 

 the substantial economic and social benefits that will flow 

 from modem and reformed Pacific fisheries policies. 



Responsibility for these initiatives, therefore, should be 

 assigned to a team that has the stature, time and 

 resources to see them through, and is free from the dis- 

 tractions of day-to-day fisheries administration. A special 

 unit should therefore be created for this purpose. Accord- 

 ingly. 1 recommend — 



7. A temporar> Minister of State for Pacific fisheries, 

 junior to the Minister of Fisheries, should be 

 appointed and given responsibility for implementing 

 reforms in Pacific lislieries policy. 



A minister with cabinet stature will be in the required 

 position to shepherd new legislation through Parliament 

 in conjunction with the .senior minister; to oversee pas- 

 sage of new regulations; and to liaise effectively with 

 other ministers such as those responsible for Indians, the 

 environment, finance and industrial development. As 

 well, he could speak with authority on behalf of the gov- 

 ernment in explaining progress to the public. 



The special minister will require full-time assistance 

 from the Department. Thus: 



8. A full-time policy and planning group within the 

 Department's Pacific region should assist the tempo- 

 rar> Minister of State in implementing policy reforms. 



In Chapter 19 I recommended that the Department 

 establish a permanent policy and planning committee. 

 For the temporary purpose of making these reforms, this 

 group should function fulltime. Under the direction of 

 the Minister, it should immediately begin to make the 

 necessary arrangements for appointing the Pacific Fisher- 

 ies Council (recommended in Chapter 17); to organize 

 the Pacific Fisheries Licensing Board (proposed in Chap- 

 ter 8); to initiate discussions with the province toward 

 reaching a federal-provincial agreement (recommended 

 in Chapter 18); and to assist in launching the budget and 

 organizational review of the Department (recommended 

 in Chapter 19). It should determine priorities for the 

 other reforms and set a timetable for dealing with them in 

 consultation with the Pacific Fisheries Council. 



