Commercial Harvesters Welcome Changes in BC’s Coastal Marine Strategy
Canada’s National Observer climate change news outlet reported July 19 that fishing communities and harvesters are welcoming British Columbia’s efforts to work with the federal government to reform the system of purchasing fish licenses and quotas in B.C.’s commercial fishing industry.
The province announced last week as part of its Coastal Marine Strategy that under the new system license and quota holders would also need to be active harvesters.
Current individual transferable quotas (ITQ) regulations allow corporations and foreign investors to buy the permits to catch fish for the highest price, which makes it increasingly challenging for individual harvesters, First Nations and long-time fishing families to compete for those permits.
The National Observer noted that Jim Pattison’s Canfisco Group, one of North America’s largest wild fish and seafood suppliers, owns double-digit owns double-digit percentages of some fish quotas, worth millions of dollars.
The Jim Pattison Group is a diversified holding company operating primarily in the United States and Canada, with annual sales of $16 billion and 50,000 employees. The firm also has operating divisions in the automotive, advertising, media, agricultural equipment, food and beverage, entertainment, exporting, financial, real estate and periodical distribution industries.
The National Observer also noted that licenses and quotas can be leased by the owner, but as the price of a license goes up, so does the cost to lease, a financial challenge for many harvesters. One veteran harvester told the publication that there will not be a next generation of commercial fishermen unless the province goes to an owner-operator system.
