Crab fleet set to tie up over dispute with government

The Crab fishery may get off to a rather rocky start, as the Area A Crab Association makes plans to remain tied up over a continuing disupte over funding issues on funding of the Dungeness soft shell test fishery.

The Daily News provided details on the issue and what the Crab Association intends to do to try and get its message heard at Fisheries and Oceans.

Funding loss has the area’s crabbers in pinch
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Pages one and three

Crab boats could remain tied up for part of this season while their $22 million catch crawls away because of the federal decision to stop funding the Dungeness soft shell test fishery.

Geoff Gould, executive director of the Area A Crab Association, has written the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans explaining how Fisheries and Oceans Canada's response to the "Larocque" decision last October means they will not have adequate data to know when the crabs are ready for harvest.

"If the crabs are ready to fish in June, they don't wait around to be caught until the fixed Aug. 1 opening date. So without the charter test data and an earlier opening date, a substantial part of the season can be lost. A lost season is a blow to the local economy and a missed fishing opportunity," said Gould.

He is asking the federal government to come up with the money to pay for the test fishery.
"The association submits that it is the basic mandate of DFO to manage all Canadian fisheries to their maximum economic potential in a sustainable and renewable manner. This not only benefits local economies, but government coffers as well. DFO must fund this basic science and re-institute and fund the soft shell charters for Area A," he said.

Under the Larocque decision, the federal government is prohibited from using the fish resource to fund its operations as it has in the past, unless the DFO starts funding them out of its regular operating budget.

Previously, the federal government used to fund a soft shell test fishery by contracting crabbers and allowing them to keep some of the catch.

"(Now) DFO says they have no money to fund these scientific charters and that conservation measures will be met with the four-month fixed closure dates," said Gould.

This means local crabbers, who bring in $22 million annually, won't be able to start fishing until August, even though data collected by some fishermen indicates a mid- to late-June opening would be appropriate.

This spring, even though they were not being paid, four association vessels volunteered to collect soft shell test data at their own expense.

"The data collected so far indicates that a mid- to late-June opening may be justified. These tests were done while the area was open and while the test vessels had their regular crab gear in the water actively crabbing," said Gould.

Area A' is now closed, so that any vessel that volunteers to test in May, June or July will have to pay fuel, grub, gear and crew costs out of their own pockets with no chance of any offset from the resource

Gould said the association is between a rock and a hard place.

"If we do not test, the bulk of this year's catch could be missed. The cost of running a vessel for the testing is about $2,500. per day.

The association contends that the charter soft shell data is basic science that the department should be paying for out of the budget the department receives from Ottawa.

"This data is essential to the determination of the best biological and economic opening date," he said. "The testing is not, as the department has stated, a program primarily benefiting a small group of licence holders. In contrast, the ability to maximize sustainable fishing opportunities has allowed the crab marketers to develop new, premium markets at a time when competition from Oregon, Washington and California is limited."