Scaling Back the Fish Take:

Government's Ability to Manage Pacific Salmon Fishery Questioned

Contact:

Michael Walker, Executive Director
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4545 Email: michaelw@fraserinstitute.ca

Release Date: 29 March 1996

VANCOUVER, BC>>> The federal government announced today a buy-back of fishing licenses and a change in license areas. While this may be an initial step towards dealing with the crisis facing the West Coast salmon fishery, it does not go far enough, according to The Fraser Institute.

Conservation or Control

The government has a mandate to manage the salmon fishery on behalf of the people of Canada. This includes conserving the resource for future generations, securing fair returns for the public, and maximizing the financial, cultural and aesthetic benefits to the people of Canada.

Government attempts to manage the salmon fishery have focused on controlling the amount of fishing effort through restrictions on entry, restrictions on boat size, gear limitations, and limitations on the times allowed to fish. "The government's most recent attempt to reduce the size of the fleet in order to control fishing effort is yet another well-intended policy that unfortunately will not succeed," said Dr. Michael Walker, executive director of The Fraser Institute.

Achieving "long-term viability and competitiveness of the commercial salmon industry" are worthy goals, Walker agreed, but management through government-imposed effort controls has proved unsuccessful and costly in the past. "These goals can only be achieved by allowing a greater role for market forces."

The Fraser Institute agrees with the government that conservation should be a top priority. Last year there was a disparity of 6.9 million fish between the 10.7 million pre-season forecast and the 3.8 million post-season estimate for the Fraser River sockeye run. The run is predicted to be so low this year that there may be no commercial fishing of the Fraser River permitted. A more disturbing problem is the loss in biodiversity of salmon stocks. Since 1950, salmon stock biodiversity has declined by 50 percent. The current conservation crisis illustrates the need for government to go beyond "cautious" solutions like those announced today.

Fair returns for the public?

The government is correct in stating that "the fishery must be economically viable … and [make a] contribution to the Canadian economy." Currently, the public sees no financial returns from the fisheries resource. Instead, taxpayers will be asked to spend an estimated $65 million in addition to current subsidies in order to buy back rights to fish that already belong to them. (Current subsidies include management costs and unemployment insurance benefits.) The government collected $3.4 million in commercial salmon license fees for the 1994-95 season, while $49 million were spent on managing the salmon fishery. In addition, for the period 1986-1990, Statistics Canada numbers show that, on average, commercial fishers received $1.29 in UI benefits for every $1.00 in contributions.

A Further Step Towards Saving the Salmon

"The state of the salmon fishery will not improve until those who benefit directly from the industry are allowed to have a claim to the fish before they're caught and are able to take direct responsibility for managing the fish stocks," said Dr. Walker. "A system of Individual Transferable Quotas designed for salmon would do just that."

The Fraser Institute is holding a conference titled Managing a Wasting Resource: Would Quotas Solve the Problems Facing the Pacific Salmon Fishery to explore more creative solutions to the salmon crisis. Participants will include experts from New Zealand, Iceland, Canada and the United States, and other experts in fisheries management. The conference will be held in Vancouver on May 30th and 31st.

Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.

For further information contact:

Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca

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Last Modified: Wednesday, October 20, 1999.