First Nations and commercial fishers are praising a new $175-million Pacific fisheries support program that is designed to re-integrate the West Coast fishery.
But spokesmen for both groups say more federal funding is necessary for the program to succeed.
Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn says Ottawa will spend the $175 million to fulfil the Conservative government's commitment to establish one fishery in British Columbia that is environmentally and economically sustainable.
Most of the money is expected to go toward a buyout of commercial fishers that would transfer more of the annual harvest to First Nations.
Hearn says the challenges faced by Pacific commercial fisheries require all sectors to rise above the discords of the past and work co-operatively.
He singled out the Fraser River salmon fishery, which has been the scene of conflict between Aboriginal and non-native fishermen, and confrontations by both groups with Fisheries enforcement officers.
Doug Kelly, grand chief of the Sto:lo First Nation based in the Fraser Valley, says the federal initiative is a clear departure from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "ill-advised letter" to the Calgary Herald in which he pledged to end "racially divided" fishing programs.
"I say ill-advised because that letter was written primarily out of ignorance," says Kelly.
He adds B.C. already has one fishery, but the conflict surrounds the sharing of the catch.
"I think it's a small, but important, first step to investing in Pacific fisheries," says Kelly of the federal program.
But he is concerned that inflation in the cost of equipment could drive the buyout price up. He also wants First Nations to be "actively involved and engaged in managing that buyout."
The new money will be doled out over five years and will be used to establish enhanced catch-monitoring and reporting, strengthen enforcement and provide new approaches to trace fish from the time they're caught until they're bought by consumers.
Rob Morley, vice-president of human resources and corporate development for the Canadian Fishing Co. (Canfisco), says his Vancouver-based firm, the largest commercial operator on the West Coast, had anticipated a federal announcement because there is pressure to change the way B.C. fisheries are managed.
"We're hopeful that it's a start in the right direction," says Morley. "But it's probably not a big enough (financial) push to make a big difference."
He estimates as much as $800 million in federal money could be necessary for buyouts over a 10- to 15-year period, based on the possibility of First Nations seeking one-third of the $2.5- billion value of quota and licences.
Morley says the B.C. industry has to change the way it does business in order to remain competitive with its main rival, Alaska.
He is hopeful the federal announcement will prompt Ottawa to grant the industry's long-standing request for a quota-based system, which he contends is what many other "more successful" fisheries than salmon use.
"Under a quota-based system, instead of racing to catch the fish and having them all land at the plant at once, you would basically give every vessel a fixed number to catch," says Morley. "They would have the whole week to catch it and you could spread out the landing so (packers) would have fresh fish every day. They would take no more than the department wanted taken in that time period."
Such a system would provide better control over management of the fishery and more opportunities to reduce costs and provide higher-valued products, he adds.
But Eco-Trust Canada, a Vancouver-based sustainability group, argued in a 2004 study that a quota-based system would favour large corporations and hurt small West Coast communities that rely on fishing for much of their livelihood.
Morley notes the proposed buyout of commercial fishermen would give many who are looking to retire an opportunity to leave the industry and help the sector prepare for the time when more fishing opportunities are transferred to First Nations as part of treaty negotiations.
The federal announcement came just days after Paul Kariya, president and CEO of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, called on the fishing industry and all British Columbians to change their approach to the almost-sacred salmon in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade.
The Pacific Salmon Foundation describes itself as an independent, politically neutral organization dedicated to rebuilding healthy, sustainable and diverse Pacific salmon stocks.
Kariya called on fishers to revise their practices through changes in the types of nets they use and other techniques in order to conserve the fish for future generations.
"A good part of their decline is because of human impacts," says Kariya.
Last year, he says, the Fraser was predicted to have a sockeye run of 15-16 million, but the actual number was 11-11.5 million. This year's pre-season sockeye forecast calls for six to seven million.
Kariya wants a more limited season opening, revisions to fishing areas and reduced harvests.
He says the value, and ultimately the market price, of the fish should be increased in the spirit of conservation and wants the industry to build in the cost of habitat restoration.
Kelly, who has worked closely with Kariya, calls limited openings and revised fishing areas "an excellent idea."
He says the Salmon Table, a group that includes the Sto:lo and other lower Fraser River First Nations, commercial fishers, recreational anglers and environmentalists, has been discussing the idea of a smaller opening that would limit the number of boats that go out or the time that those boats have to harvest fish.
"(Protection of declining species) requires a new way of managing our fisheries," says Kelly. "It requires the regulators - the Department of Fisheries and Oceans - to step up to the table and manage fisheries differently."
Canfisco's Morley says the commercial industry has already changed many of its salmon-harvesting practices. The industry has reduced exploitation rates, which refer to the catch of spawning fish on the Fraser, to 40 to 50 per cent for sockeye and 20 to 25 per cent for other species, from as high as 70 per cent.
He adds a quota system could provide incentives to fish more selectively in return for a larger allocation of fish.
Vancouver-based railtour operator Rocky Mountaineer Vacations Inc. is providing the Pacific Salmon Foundation with $400,000 over eight years to enhance the awareness of train passengers about the salmon industry and restore fish habitat.
Rocky Mountaineer president and CEO Peter Armstrong says the company has an obligation to "give something back" because its trains roll along rivers and serve wild salmon.
Armstrong also has a personal motive: He says he wants to be able to take his grandson fishing in the future. If all companies fulfil their obligation to look after the land and salmon, he adds, the bounty that the fish provide people will continue well into the future.
"Sometimes it's just our ignorance (that prevents the use of new fishing technologies), and the Pacific Salmon Foundation has a great role to play in educating people," says Armstrong. "I don't think (Kariya) is chastising people. He's working with them to find new solutions."
- with files from The Canadian Press (Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)
