wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Good Afternoon,
In 2017, the Central Coast Nations (the Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, and Wuikinuxv) partnered with DFO to collaboratively manage Dungeness crab (hereafter referred to as “crab”) on the Central Coast. This Government-to-government approach was driven by the need, as identified by the Nations, to restore or preserve sufficient Food, Social, and Ceremonial (FSC) access to crab and ensure the sustainability of crab populations on the Central Coast.
After two years of investigating these concerns, the governance partners have concluded that there is a need to maintain or restore FSC access to crab, particularly in key areas that represent important current or historical crab fishing areas for the Central Coast First Nations, and/or areas of high cultural significance. Conversations culminated in a proposed suite of crab fishing closures intended to meet these goals.
DFO and the Central Coast Nations are committed to engaging stakeholders on proposed changes to crab management. To that end, on November 28, an email was circulated introducing a plan to solicit general and site-specific feedback on the proposed management changes. Today, we are sharing a document describing the context and rationale for the proposed management changes. This document should provide you with information required to help you formulate your feedback. Additionally, we will be reviewing the information contained in this document via two webinars: one on Monday, December 9th and one on Friday, December 13th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
We will be circulating a form to allow you to provide feedback by email. We are particularly interested in hearing about the socioeconomic impacts of the proposed changes on your fishery and we are open to alternative management suggestions that can rapidly and effectively address FSC access concerns in these locations.
The first round of feedback will be collected until January 13th. On January 21st and 22nd, the governance partners will host a workshop in Vancouver to review all collected feedback from the first round. The workshop will be an opportunity for you to meet face to face with the steering committee – DFO and First Nation leadership – to discuss the proposed management measures and provide additional advice. Workshop details will be provided before the holidays. A second round of feedback will be collected the week after the workshop. The final deadline for feedback to be incorporated into the 2020 crab IFMP will be Friday, January 31st.
The members of the steering committee have committed to rigorous, meaningful and consistent engagement of communities and stakeholders and have identified that this is necessary to achieve the objectives of the collaborative crab process. We look forward to sharing this work with you and hearing your perspectives on how we achieve our shared goal of healthy and sustainable crab populations on the Central Coast.
Sincerely,
Sandra Davies
A/Area Director-North Coast Area
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
417-2nd Avenue West
Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1G8
T: (250) 627-3416**NEW**
E: Sandra.Davies@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
In 2017, the Central Coast Nations (the Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, and Wuikinuxv) partnered with DFO to collaboratively manage Dungeness crab (hereafter referred to as “crab”) on the Central Coast. This Government-to-government approach was driven by the need, as identified by the Nations, to restore or preserve sufficient Food, Social, and Ceremonial (FSC) access to crab and ensure the sustainability of crab populations on the Central Coast.
After two years of investigating these concerns, the governance partners have concluded that there is a need to maintain or restore FSC access to crab, particularly in key areas that represent important current or historical crab fishing areas for the Central Coast First Nations, and/or areas of high cultural significance. Conversations culminated in a proposed suite of crab fishing closures intended to meet these goals.
DFO and the Central Coast Nations are committed to engaging stakeholders on proposed changes to crab management. To that end, on November 28, an email was circulated introducing a plan to solicit general and site-specific feedback on the proposed management changes. Today, we are sharing a document describing the context and rationale for the proposed management changes. This document should provide you with information required to help you formulate your feedback. Additionally, we will be reviewing the information contained in this document via two webinars: one on Monday, December 9th and one on Friday, December 13th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
We will be circulating a form to allow you to provide feedback by email. We are particularly interested in hearing about the socioeconomic impacts of the proposed changes on your fishery and we are open to alternative management suggestions that can rapidly and effectively address FSC access concerns in these locations.
The first round of feedback will be collected until January 13th. On January 21st and 22nd, the governance partners will host a workshop in Vancouver to review all collected feedback from the first round. The workshop will be an opportunity for you to meet face to face with the steering committee – DFO and First Nation leadership – to discuss the proposed management measures and provide additional advice. Workshop details will be provided before the holidays. A second round of feedback will be collected the week after the workshop. The final deadline for feedback to be incorporated into the 2020 crab IFMP will be Friday, January 31st.
The members of the steering committee have committed to rigorous, meaningful and consistent engagement of communities and stakeholders and have identified that this is necessary to achieve the objectives of the collaborative crab process. We look forward to sharing this work with you and hearing your perspectives on how we achieve our shared goal of healthy and sustainable crab populations on the Central Coast.
Sincerely,
Sandra Davies
A/Area Director-North Coast Area
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
417-2nd Avenue West
Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1G8
T: (250) 627-3416**NEW**
E: Sandra.Davies@dfo-mpo.gc.ca