Recreational halibut anglers in the West are once again ticked off at the decision-making protest in the East.
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Keith Ashfield announced Friday that commercial fishermen will receive 85 per cent of the Pacific halibut fishery, down from an 88 per cent allotment, while the recreational sector's share of the harvest increases from 12 to 15 per cent.
In a news release, Ashfield said the corrected allocation formula — based on Parliamentary Secretary Randy Kamp's review involving the Province, First Nations, and the commercial and recreational sectors — will provide "greater long-term certainty" to the fishery.
Bryan Allen, sports fishing committee director for the Courtenay and District Fish and Game Protective Association, balks at the idea that a three-per-cent increase will ensure certainty to an estimated 100,000 recreational halibut fishermen in B.C.
"Three per cent is a drop in the bucket," he said. "This is ridiculous. This is a common property resource that the province is privatizing, gifting it to a small number of commercial fishermen."
Last February, fishermen picketed outside the Courtenay office of Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan to protest the 88/12 per cent split.
"This is not the end of things," Allen said. "We're looking at the same thing with crabs, with prawns, with salmon. It's all coming down the pipe because it makes things easier for Ottawa."
He notes the commercial group told Kamp to allocate a fixed number of halibut for the recreational fishery based on the previous year's catches. By so doing, Allen said the recreational fishery can plan its year.
"What we were looking for was two halibut per day, three in possession, subject to conservation needs," he said. "If the stocks drop then our catch will drop...In the past the commercial sector has tried to make this a conservation issue. It's not. It's an allocation issue."
An experimental licence introduced last year that allowed recreational harvesters to lease Pacific halibut quota from commercial harvesters based on market value will continue to be available, DFO said.
The 2012 Pacific halibut recreational fishing season will open March 1.
According to the Sport Fishing Institute of B.C., the latest changes will ensure the shortest halibut fishing season in memory for recreational anglers.
"Minister Ashfield closed the recreational halibut fishing on Sept. 5 last year and caused extensive economic damage to the sport fishing industry," group president Robert Alcock said Friday in a news release. "Today, he served notice that recreational halibut fishing will end in the first week of August, which will wreak havoc in the sport fishing industry and which will not conserve a single fish."
Allen notes the halibut fishery is at the low end of the cycle.
"We're still faced with a probability that we're going to have an early shutdown to the fishery," he said. "If I had a lodge or if I was a guide I wouldn't know what to tell my clients."
The Sport Fishing Institute also criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for telling Island residents during the 2011 election that government recognizes the importance of the halibut fishery in B.C.
"He promised that there would be stability," Allen said. "We do not have that. He's broken his promise...They (Ottawa) have no idea what sportsfishing means to this side of the country."
reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com