Letter sent - sorry for tables not lining up well in this view.
West Coast guides Association
May 5, 2016
Re: Proposed Recreational Salmon Closure
Honorable Minister Tootoo
Delivered via e-mail
Dear Minister Tootoo,
I’m writing to you in my capacity as the President of the West Coast Fishing Guide’s Association. We are a membership organization representing over 120 active guides, and growing.
Our organization is committed to working with government and NGO’s to ensure the diverse fishery on the west coast of BC is well understood and protected. We have recently learned of a proposal to close the recreational fishery from the west coast of South Vancouver Island to the Gulf of Georgia in the approach to the Fraser River. Our understanding is DFO is proposing to move to Zone 1 conservation measures.
We support conservation measures by all sectors to protect salmon runs when and where they make good sense. In this particular proposal, the intent is to severely restrict recreational fishing opportunities to essentially transfer Chinook to First Nations as compensation for a total conservation closure for Sockeye. Our view is this represents dangerous policy, and amounts to an allocation transfer from one user group to another rather than managing each individual fishery based on conservation, prior allocation policy, and law.
As Minister your first priority should be ensuring conservation needs are met for each fishery independently, and not to blur the lines by horse-trading Chinook for Sockeye. Any decision to manage the fishery as currently proposed represents a serious breach of your fiduciary duty as Fisheries Minister.
Beyond these concerns, we want to point out that any decision that harms the recreational sport fishery will have serious and long lasting implications to the economy of B.C.’s coastal communities. The recreational fishery continues to expand, and has eclipsed the commercial fishery in terms of economic value to Canada. The table below illustrates this shift:
Commercial Troll Fishery vs Recreational Salmon Fishery
Economic Driver Commercial Recreational
GDP $15.7 million $219.1 million
Workers employed 157 3,580
Household Income $8.4 million $143.1 million
Taxation $2.5 million $60 million
Our view is keeping the recreational fishery strong and vibrant makes solid sense, contributes tremendously to rebuilding Canada’s economy, creates employment and represents the wisest use of a common property resource.
We urge you as Minister to reject the aforementioned proposals to shift Chinook opportunities to the proponents.
Sincerely,
Pat Ahern
President, WCFGA
cc
WCFGA Members
Kelly Binning
Kelly.Binning@dfo-mpo.gc.ca