Over the past six months, the SFI and the other members of the BC Sportfishing Coalition have been pulling out all the stops to put halibut on the political agenda in the 2011 election. It started tentatively at the 2010 Sport Fishing Industry Policy Conference, gathered steam over the Christmas break and culminated in a series of unprecedented town hall meetings up and down Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland….CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT…learn what we have heard so far….

“The PHMA occupies a very privileged position, thanks to a succession of fisheries ministers. A private society, whose meetings are not open to the public and whose finances are not subject to public scrutiny, the Association was until recently funded by a gift of 10 per cent of the available commercial halibut quota……”

click on story introduction below to go to full story in Globe and Mail

The halibut quota system is broken and needs to be fixed, said Nathan Cullen, the NDP candidate for Skeena Bulkley-Valley.

In a press release sent out yesterday, Cullen said the policies of the Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) privatize a public resource and hurt B.C.’s coastal economy. As such, he said reforms need to be made to the current system.

“One solution being proposed would see DFO take back quota from non-active quota holders and reallocated it to the active commercial and recreational sectors,” stated Cullen in the press release. “This will give fishermen greater access to the resource, and ensure that more value stays with the people who catch the fish.”

In an interview with Muskeg News, Cullen said this would take the form of a buy-back from quota holders. He also said the quota system was a problem from the time it was implemented. “The person who owns it should fish it,” he said.