BC Wildlife Federation Press release calling for Shea's replacment

[Cuba Libre]

For Immediate Release – February 17, 2011



BC Wildlife Federation Calls Pacific Halibut Decision an Insult to its 38,000 Members and Demands Prime Minister Harper Replace Fisheries Minister Shea



Vancouver, BC – BC Wildlife Federation President Rod Wiebe issued the following statement today.



“Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea’s decision to uphold a 2003 give-away of 88 percent of BC’s share of Pacific halibut (not including First Nations Food, Social and Ceremonial allocations) to a small number of commercial quota holders is an insult to all 38,000 BCWF members and the recreational fishing sector in general. In our view an East Coast model will not work on the West Coast of British Columbia.



“By failing to recognize the legitimate concerns of all recreational anglers to a fair share of a common property resource, the Minister has assured continuing confrontations between her officials and those who really “own” the resource…the public.



“The suggestion by the Minister that recreational fishing guides, lodges and individuals be allowed to purchase/lease ‘quota’ from the commercial sector to extend their season after the 12 percent present quota is reached, is an insult to our members. We will NOT help her increase the wealth of a few individuals by buying back fish we already own.


This precedent setting decision by Min. Shea is particularly hard to fathom as the economic value of sports fishing in BC surpasses the value of commercial fishing. Further, the economic impact of the misguided and offensive decision by Min. Shea to privatize the resource is already being felt as anglers cancel or delay booking trips with guides or resorts as seasons are shortened and limits lowered. The ripple down effect will only grow as other fishing supply and support businesses see fewer customers.


The BC Wildlife Federation is committed to continuing to fight for the rights of the public to access THEIR fish. If this travesty is allowed to stand, undoubtedly the public will see their access to other species such as shellfish and salmon restricted as a few friends of the government are gifted most of the resources.

DFO says they no longer know who the quota holders are. How can they possibly manage the fishery under these conditions?



This is an election issue for the Citizens of BC and our members will make sure it remains in the forefront.

We further demand that Prime Minister Harper immediately replace Gail Shea with a minister that understands the social and economic value of recreational fishing in BC. BCWF members and all other resident anglers have been sold out to a well financed commercial lobby and we will not forget it.



For further information, please contact BCWF President Rod Wiebe (250-240-7685) or BCWF Tidal Water Fisheries Committee co-chairs Ed George (604-530-9481) and Ken Franzen (250-624-6431).







Gary Cleave

Marketing and Development Coordinator

BC Wildlife Federation

 

[Governor]

Excellent media release!

You know its great to see the BCWF support sport fishing like this and being so active in the coalition too!

Kudos where kudos are due

Gov

 

[Fishing Guide]

Thank you BCWF!

 

[Governor]

Holmes - Yup, BCWF have had it with excriment for DFO Ottawa

 

[Hit em Hard]

Thank you BCWF!

Thanks BCWF x2.

As I have looked further into Gail Shea's response to other issues not related to the Halibut allocation I am absolutely amazed at almost every major decision she has made; not one of them has been in the best interest of Canada or the people she was elected to represent. This woman is a traitor to the best interests of our country and the majority of it's people!

H.E.H.

 

[Bassblaster]

There is a simple solution to the "we don't know who owns the quota" argument.

In the same manner that the gov't forces us to pay sh2tpiles of money in registrations, you FORCE the quota holders to register their quotas, OR FORFIT THEM! If the slipper skippers have sold their quota's to foreign interests, these individuals would very quickly come to light.

Piece of cake. Register the quota with DFO or lose it and it goes back in the pot for reallocation. Oh, and you only have 60 days to do it in. No excuses, no bullsh2t, just get it done or your gift is revoked.

Put this in place and just see how fast you know who all the players are.

Oh, and by the way, It is part of the Public Access to Information Act that the Government MUST provide ALL information to ANY Canadian citizen short of Classified, Secret, or Top Secret military documents. The bottom line is that they CANNOT WITH-HOLD THE NAMES OF THE QUOTA HOLDERS BY LAW!!

Enough with "the Dog Ate My Homework" Bullsh2t!!

 

[Bassblaster]

Regarding the possible sale of quota to foreign fleets, while DFO has observers or cameras on Canadian vessels, they do not have monitoring equipment on foreign vessels. Who can say how much of the fishery is being removed by others who are unscrupulous? Since the quota can be leased by anyone, there's no way to track this without all of the quota holders/leasors being registered AND listed publicly.

I would assume that there are vested interests that would come to light, and some politicians in very hot water, ( as Wolf mentioned earlier) if Canadians really knew what's going on.

After all, we are talking about a government that does not know who "Owns" 88% of the "Rights" to "Managing" a Canadian public Resource.

OOOPS!

 

[GLG]

You have to have a license to own quota. It seem you also need a boat to own a license. Check out this link to sort all the halibut licenses. Just use the drop down box to select the halibut fishery, and then press the display fishery report button. Once the report is shown you can press the “next 176” button to see the next page. You can copy and paste company names in to your favorite search engine to get some background on some of the companies. Those with excel can also download a text (csv) file if you want to sort out the data. Check out the company with the 11-foot halibut boat. You will be surprised how much it pays to have such a small fuel-efficient fish slaying machine. I do worry that such a small boat may be dangerous for commercial fish. Ok no I don’t.

http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Ops/VRNdirectory/LicReportSelect.cfm

 

[spring time]

gee out of all those licenses I see mr jimmy patterson only ones 8 it must be a conspiracy or something

 

[fish4all]

gee out of all those licenses I see mr jimmy patterson only ones 8 it must be a conspiracy or something

I know it is hard for some to believe but jimmy owns very little halibut quota/licenses.

 

[Hindsight]

were did you get that info ?

 

[Klob]

I know it is hard for some to believe but jimmy owns very little halibut quota/licenses.

Hard to tell what he owns, can always use numbered companies. If you look under Seine Herring it appears he owns at least 52 licenses, about a 1/4 of the fleet. The rich get richer.

 

[fish4all]

Hard to tell what he owns, can always use numbered companies. If you look under Seine Herring it appears he owns at least 52 licenses, about a 1/4 of the fleet. The rich get richer.

jimmy is definitly heavey in salmon and herring. They have been doing a little more drag fish but not that much but CDN fish has never been very deep in halibut. The majority of the halibut was in with the troll fleet that is mostly independant.

 

[GLG]

[FONT=&quot]Jimmy just owns all the processing of the halibut.

GLG
[/FONT]

 

[Charlie]

jimmy is definitly heavey in salmon and herring. They have been doing a little more drag fish but not that much but CDN fish has never been very deep in halibut. The majority of the halibut was in with the troll fleet that is mostly independant.

fish4all?

By CDN fish, are you referring Canfishco? If so, I am not sure what you mean by, “has never been very deep in halibut?” Canfisco has actually and rightfully so credited with starting the Pacific halibut commercial fishery! If you don’t think Canfisco was ever “very deep,” do you want to start with November 1893; rather use the organization date of 1905; or just use the date ‘The Canadian Fishing Company’ officially became a company - 1906? Would you like to see a picture taken in October 1909 of the first trainload of frozen halibut shipped by Canfisco? J
http://www.canfisco.com/wildsalmon/salmon_history.asp?article=8

Now, if you are suggesting The Jim Pattison Group, who acquired Canfisco in 1984 isn’t a large player in the commercial halibut industry, you might want to rethink that statement, also. There just might be absolutely no, if and buts about it, Canfisco is still not only a major player, they are THE major player. If you don’t think they are still the single largest owner of the halibut quota, might want to look a little closer at those licenses!

There is no doubt in my mind if researched, Canfisco not only has the largest commercial fleet in BC, their other partnerships, affiliates, subsidiaries, will very much give them a large controlling interest in not only BC halibut but, also Alaska. If you don’t believe so, start looking at names such as ‘Ocean Fisheries,’ ’Icicle,’ ‘Alaska General Seafoods,’ etc, etc. The Canadian Fishing Company and The Jim Pattison Group owns, operates, and is partners with many. In case you missed Ocean’s, as in check the name Ocean Fisheries under those halibut licenses. They partnered with the Pattison Group in 2007! If I was a betting man, I would bet you can purchase their halibut through Delta Pacific Seafoods, an affiliate of yep you got it, Canfisco.

 

[wolf]

Your ight again Charlie he owns about 60% of the quotas. The worst part is the I really feel for the REAL commercial guy as he is the one fishing they are a victim of there own doingwhich is really SAD,
And yes That thing should be taken out of office for being so "OUT OF TOUCH" with the people when she said that quote of not bowing to the public WTF who they hell do you think places VOTES dumb *****!!!!

 

[Fishing Guide]

Cheers All,

Thank you Charlie for not only the information on Jim Pattison but for all the unbelieveably detailed work you have provided to this site and the fishermen who rely on the information to make decisions. May your journeys be short and your waters calm.