Question Period Note: Inshore Fishing for the West Coast

Inshore Fishing for the West Coast

While some commercial fishery stakeholders in the Pacific region are seeking fisheries licensing policies similar to those in Atlantic Canada, others are opposed to such measures.

My department is engaging with First Nations, key stakeholders and licence holders in British Columbia to discuss priority fisheries management and licensing concerns, including the viability of Atlantic-style policy tools.

Our aim is to ensure that any potential policy solutions do not negatively impact our long-standing conservation efforts and to continued improvements in managing fisheries on the West Coast.

If pressed on the Comparative Analysis between East and West Coast Fisheries
As per the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ recommendations, DFO contracted a comparative analysis of Atlantic and Pacific commercial fishing policies and regulations to a third party consultant. The report’s findings were published on March 25, 2021.

The report found that implementing Atlantic-style policies, such as owner-operator and fleet separation, in Pacific fisheries would present challenges to both DFO and fisheries participants.

If pressed on the Evolution of Pacific Fisheries
The licensing regime on the West Coast differs from that in the East Coast. It has evolved differently and operates in a different context.

The individual transferable quota system in the Pacific region evolved as a means of managing fishing effort and ensuring conservation of the stocks.

• On May 7, 2019, the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans released its 21st report, entitled “West Coast Fisheries: Sharing Risks and Benefits”. The report included 20 recommendations that called for significant changes to the current fisheries management and licensing regime, including: increased transparency and accessibility, development of profit-sharing arrangements, and a transition to an independent owner-operator model similar to Atlantic inshore fisheries.
• The Government Response was tabled on July 9, 2020; it highlighted how the Government’s priorities are aligned with several of the Committee’s recommendations, including strengthening the middle class, improving transparency in government, and sustainable and inclusive economic development. The Government Response committed DFO to producing a comparative analysis of the East and West Coast licensing policies, as well as analyzing existing data gaps in Pacific region’s licensing management system. The Government Response committed DFO to further consult key stakeholders on the issues raised in the report.
• Some stakeholder groups have expressed concerns about the impacts of increasing costs of licences and quota, corporate concentration, and foreign ownership on independent fishers and coastal communities in Pacific region and would like Atlantic inshore policies such as owner-operator and fleet separation requirements to be extended to the West coast. This is a contentious topic among fishery stakeholders in Pacific region. While some harvesters and crew have called for a review of the commercial licensing and management regime, other equally vocal organizations are opposed and have raised concerns about the potential economic consequences of introducing concepts that would significantly change how the industry operates.
• In the spring of 2020, DFO launched an analysis of its existing foreign ownership policies and the impacts of any potential changes. During the preliminary stages of this analysis, the Department concluded that it lacks recent and comprehensive information required to validate or invalidate the concerns put forth by the Standing Committee and some stakeholders. In February 2021, the Department contracted the Forensic Accounting Management Group (FAMG), under Public Services and Procurement Canada, to develop a survey (the Beneficial Ownership Survey) that would identify who is benefitting from commercial fishing licences and quota, and validate the concerns identified by Parliamentarians.
• The Beneficial Ownership Survey launched on January 31, 2022. Its completion will be mandatory for the majority of commercial licence holders in Pacific region, as well as all midshore, offshore, and exempted fleet licence holders in Atlantic, Quebec, and Arctic regions. Most Atlantic inshore and communal commercial licence holders are exempted from the Survey.
• The United Fishermen & Allied Workers’ Union recently submitted a proposal to the Department for the creation of a Pacific region “owner operator” licence designation. The proposal would seek to implement similar principles as the ones currently employed in the Atlantic inshore sector. DFO staff are still conducting internal analyses on the viability of certain proposal elements, as well as engaging industry stakeholders to discuss the potential outcomes of the proposal.
• DFO staff continue to host discussions with key industry stakeholders on the recommendations of the FOPO report. Discussion topics include DFO’s collection of socio-economic data and the existing data gaps, advisory board structures and representation, and industry-led owner-operator proposals.
• In March 2021, the comparative analysis of East and West coast fisheries policies by Gardner-Pinfold was made publically available. The report found that implementing Atlantic-style policies on the Pacific coast would present a variety of challenges. The report is critical of certain elements of both east and west coast policy regimes, citing impacts of quota leasing on the Pacific coast, as well as the difficulties associated with maintaining the owner-operator, fleet separation, and PIIFCAF policies in the Atlantic Inshore fishery. The report is being used to inform engagement with Indigenous groups and commercial fishery stakeholders on the issues raised in FOPO’s report.

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