Exporting BC Seafood

[Cookie's Cutter]

I was talking to a commercial Fisherman at the dock the other day, he was getting ready for prawn season. He told me that 100% of their catch gets exported to China and Japan. Yet they want to reduce the limit that sport fisherman can catch to feed their families.

Moreover, if I ever wanted to buy prawns in a local grocery store my only option would to be to buy some disgusting crap grown in a septic pond in Bangladesh.

Thousands of tonnes of Herring are harvested every year in the Strait of Georgia, so that their eggs can be served to the Japanese on top of Sushi and there bodies ground up into dog food and fish food for the very same salmon farms that are poisoning our waters.

Natives are netting a limited number of “salmon for ceremonial purposes” that are being sold direct to exporters.

Don’t get me started on raw log exports, gas prices and oil exports.

I recently got back from a trip to Hawaii. In Hawaii, locals do not need to buy a fishing license. As far as I know, there are no size restrictions or retention limit. Fishing is considered a right, a way of life for Hawaiians, a way to feed their families.

I know there are a lot of commercial fisherman and ex commercial fisherman on this forum. And commercial fishing does create a lot of jobs. But to me, most species are becoming too scarce and are too valuable to British Columbians to export.


BC fish belong to the people of British Columbia first and foremost!



My suggestions:
- Ban the export of BC Seafoods
- Promote wild BC products
- Promote Tourism
- Most restaurants only serve foreign seafood products - Serve local.
- Give sport fisherman priority over commercial sellers (native and non native)
- If a foreigner wants BC salmon, they can come here and hire a guide to catch one.

Your thoughts.

 

[fish4all]

I think there is more product sold in Canada then you think. Prawn fest on the island sells direct and so do many of the local fresh boats. No doubt a significant portion gets sold to the highest payer.

 

[capt hook]

I was talking to a commercial Fisherman at the dock the other day, he was getting ready for prawn season. He told me that 100% of their catch gets exported to China and Japan. Yet they want to reduce the limit that sport fisherman can catch to feed their families.

Moreover, if I ever wanted to buy prawns in a local grocery store my only option would to be to buy some disgusting crap grown in a septic pond in Bangladesh.

Thousands of tonnes of Herring are harvested every year in the Strait of Georgia, so that their eggs can be served to the Japanese on top of Sushi and there bodies ground up into dog food and fish food for the very same salmon farms that are poisoning our waters.

Natives are netting a limited number of “salmon for ceremonial purposes” that are being sold direct to exporters.

Don’t get me started on raw log exports, gas prices and oil exports.

I recently got back from a trip to Hawaii. In Hawaii, locals do not need to buy a fishing license. As far as I know, there are no size restrictions or retention limit. Fishing is considered a right, a way of life for Hawaiians, a way to feed their families.

I know there are a lot of commercial fisherman and ex commercial fisherman on this forum. And commercial fishing does create a lot of jobs. But to me, most species are becoming too scarce and are too valuable to British Columbians to export.


BC fish belong to the people of British Columbia first and foremost!

you forgot the lumber industry....may as well store all export or lumber and plywood and paper ,
and how about the apples and peaches and cherries while we are at it , ...
or maybe better yet,,, maybe go live in Hawaii.

My suggestions:
- Ban the export of BC Seafoods
- Promote wild BC products
- Promote Tourism
- Most restaurants only serve foreign seafood products - Serve local.
- Give sport fisherman priority over commercial sellers (native and non native)
- If a foreigner wants BC salmon, they can come here and hire a guide to catch one.

Your thoughts.

 

[saltcod]

I think fish4all is correct. I buy at least 20 lbs. of prawns direct from fisherman every year, plus you can buy local spot prawns at Thrifty foods, tails off for $17 on sale in season. I know one local commercial prawn fisherman that sells a significant amount of his catch to a busy local sushi restaurant. Some of his do go to Japan though. I buy as many legal, commercial sockeye as my supplier will let me have. He tries to be fair to all his customers so I usually never get more than 20.
There is a real movement, especially among younger people to purchase locally grown or harvested food including seafood. There are lots of oyster farmers, scallop farmers, mussel farmers etc. who would probably not be happy with a ban on the export of their products, the B.C. market is only so big. I'm not so keen on the herring harvest. They're caught before spawning, so no reproduction. Then there is the roe on kelp industry that harvests fertilized eggs off kelp fronds. Kind of like removing gravel from a river that salmon have just spawned in.