Salmon season set to start on the North Coast

"It's going to be a real disaster for the local economy"-- Local UFAWU-CAW representative Joy Thorkelson expressing a convern for what may lay ahead for Prince Rupert's economy this salmon season.

The annual quest for salmon is ready to commence on the North coast, with a fair amount of trepidation set to swim ashore along with whatever of the fish come back.

With fears of drastic reductions in returning fish, many are fearful that this year may be one of the worst years in a while for a local economy dependent on the fishery.

From fish boat crews to shore workers and local businessmen who sell the necessary supplies to keep the industry moving, all will be watching and waiting to see how the season plays out as June turns to July and August.

The Daily News featured the opening of the season as its front page story in Friday’s paper.


SALMON SEASON STARTING, BUT WITH LITTLE OPTIMISM

Many boat owners and licence holders facing hardship says union representativ

By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, June 20, 2008

Pages one and three

While the United States has completely shut down all commercial West Coast salmon fishing this year, the Canadian commercial fleet will begin fishing Tuesday on a hope and a prayer
"Nobody's going to be making a fortune in the first two weeks of the opening, the guys will probably find it difficult to even make it pay," said Joy Thorkelson, of the United Fishermens union. "We don't know what the price of fish is, and we don't know how many fish are out there.

It looks like there might be a few fish out there for sure, but nobody's seen fish jumping on the shore."

Last week, Prince Rupert city council sent a letter to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada asking for a licence holiday and a one-time payment to boat owners for maintenance for fishermen who voluntarily tie up this season, similar to what was done during the disastrous 1998 season. In a year when many fishermen likely won't bother using their licences with the high cost of fuel and so much uncertainty around the amount of fish, many will be faced with losing their boats and licences.

"It's going to be a real disaster for the local economy," said Thorkelson. "Fishermen always spend money in town, particularly those from out of town, and we're not going to have as many come up here as we normally do. That's going to impact spending dollars in town, because those guys live here for two months and spend all their money here."

Thorkelson says the federal government has no logical reason not to grant the licence holiday, other than to force the commercial salmon fleet into a quota fishery, and not granting the holiday would be seen by fishermen as a vindictive move by DFO. Under a quota fishery, fishermen who chose to fish would be forced to pay those 'armchair fishermen' who stayed home for the rented use of their fish quota.

"They're saying 'We wouldn't have to give you a licence holiday because the fishermen that are fishing would be paying you, and you would be able to pay your licence fees from the rental of your quota,'" explained Thorkelson.

"What that does is penalizes the guys who are working, and doesn't do anything about the issue that we have with trying to rationalize this fishery," said Thorkelson.

She says that when DFO made rules such as limiting the number of fish the commercial fleet could catch and no longer allowing the salmon fleet to catch other species of fish, they weren't agreed to by salmon fishermen and have made fishing uneconomic, a problem that would be furthered by a switch to quotas.

"Right now, we need some help from the department. They created this mess, and of course it's been exacerbated by poor marine conditions due to global warming," said Thorkelson.
"For really a small amount of money, compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies they've given sealers, grain farmers and ranchers, we're asking for what would amount to be less than $10 million."

Last time the federal government granted a licence holiday, it cost $10 million, but with the fleet size now reduced by one-third of what it was a decade ago, a licence holiday and support payments would cost well under $10 million.

"If you live in the Lower Mainland, you can probably get a job drywalling or doing something else. Up here, if there's no salmon season there's not a whole lot of other work," said Thorkelson.
"So, we've also asked from a small living subsidy, we asked that our EI to be extended."

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The problem isn't specific to the North Coast, as down south there are more boats and even fewer fish.

Thorkelson said nobody has received a response from the Fisheries Minister yet regarding the request for a licence holiday, but that what they've heard from DFO thus far has been unsympathetic.

Skeena-Bulkley MP Nathan Cullen and Catherine Bell, MP for Northern Vancouver Island and West Coast fisheries critic, were hoping to get the federal Minister of Fisheries to hold an emergency debate on the lack of salmon forecast to return to the West Coast this year, but the motion was denied in the House of Commons last week.

It remains to be seen how many fishermen will be docking in Prince Rupert this weekend, and whether a licence holiday will be granted, but it's safe to say many people in the community will be keeping their fingers crossed for the next few days.