OVERVIEW 261 



licensee. I propose that the Department's concern with 

 the processing industry should focus more on regulating 

 quality standards for products and less on regulating 

 trade. 



Although the fishing industry has been unable to use 

 the existing natural resources efficiently, the opportuni- 

 ties for developing them are exceedingly bright. Salmon 

 are highly responsive to enhancement, and coupled with 

 improved management to rebuild wild stocks, total yields 

 might be doubled. I explain in Chapter 1 1 that other fish 

 and shellfish are amenable to manculture, and the waters 

 of the Pacific coast are well suited to this activity. Marl- 

 culture activities could also provide new economic 

 opportunities for coastal communities. I have therefore 

 recommended a system of manculture leases to provide 

 an orderly framework for developing opportunities in 

 manculture and ocean ranching. 



Social and Cultural Development 



In designing fisheries policy, the social and cultural 

 consequences of any changes must be considered care- 

 fully because of the dependence of particular groups and 

 communities on commercial, recreational and Indian 

 fishing. TTiis raises special problems in the face of the 

 urgent need to reduce the size of fishing fleets. So my 

 proposals for fleet rationalization in Part III incorporate 

 provisions for securing the fishing pnvileges of those 

 established in the fishery to a degree that they have hith- 

 erto not enjoyed, providing them with protected oppor- 

 tunities to continue participating in the industry and 

 focusing fleet reduction on voluntary withdrawals for the 

 next 10 years. 



Indians occupy an important place in the commercial 

 fisheries, and in view of their special problems of eco- 

 nomic and social development their continued participa- 

 tion should be encouraged. In Chapter 12 I review these 

 problems and recommend support for Indian fishing 

 organizations. The successful adaptation of coastal Indi- 

 ans to commercial fishing suggests that this affords the 

 most promising avenue for developing their economic 

 and social self-reliance. 



The traditional Indian food fishery, involving Indians 

 throughout the coast and the interior, raises special prob- 

 lems, reflected in the prolonged abrasive relationship 

 between some bands and the Department of Fisheries 

 and Oceans. In Chapter 14 I propose new approaches to 

 this question that will secure bands' rights to defined 

 quantities of fish. Under proposed new arrangements. 

 Indians would be able to use their fish to their best 

 advantage through consumption or sale, and to engage 

 constructively in fisheries management and enhance- 

 ment. 



Sportfishing has become an important element in the 

 quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Canadians. 

 Excessive pressure on the stocks on which most 

 sportfishing depends, and progressive restrictions on 

 fishing, are threatening to erode sportfishing values; the 

 immediate challenge is to preserve the quality of 

 sportfishing opportunities while constraining the rate of 

 exploitation. The difficulty in meeting this challenge is 

 aggravated by a dearth of reliable information about 

 sportfishing activity, catches and stock conditions. I pro- 

 pose in Chapter 15 a 5-year program aimed at preserving 

 sportfishing opportunities while holding sport catches to 

 their present levels; improving the information base to 

 allow for more appropriate sportfishing management 

 planning; and. in consultation with the sportfishing com- 

 munity, designing sportfishing policy for the longer term. 

 My sportfishing proposals also involve regulating access 

 through higher licence fees and a system of punchcards 

 and tags, and integrating the federal saltwater licence 

 with British Columbia's freshwater sportfishing licence. 



Returns to the Public 



The returns to labour and capital employed in com- 

 mercial fishing are now generally low, mainly because of 

 overexpanded fleets. With the rationalization measures I 

 propose in this report, however, the returns can be 

 expected to improve substantially. Consistent with my 

 terms of reference. I have proposed in Part III charges to 

 capture for the public some of these returns from the 

 resources used after "fair and reasonable returns to 

 fishing enterprises." 



The proposed schedule of royalties for all commercial 

 fisheries, based on recent catches, would yield some $15 

 million annually, and I propose that these rates be 

 increased if the value of fish rises. These levies will cap- 

 ture only part of the gains from fleet rationalization, how- 

 ever; the rest will accrue to existing fishermen until the 

 proposed new licensing is in full effect. 



It is not unrealistic to suppose that current catches 

 could be taken with half the size of the current fleets at 

 half the present cost, implying a net economic gain in the 

 order of $100 million annually. But it may take up to a 

 decade to achieve this degree of rationalization, and even 

 longer before the gains are fully reflected in royalties and 

 payments for new fishing licences. The immediate 

 increase in sportfishing licence fees will yield about $4 

 million annually. 



I have also proposed elimination of subsidies for con- 

 structing and improving fishing vessels, indirect subsidies 

 under income tax arrangements, and other aid to vessel 

 construction through loan guarantees. The eflfect on the 

 federal treasury of abolishing all these programs cannot 

 be quantified, but it implies savings of several millions 



