2 - Friday, March 14, 1986 - North Shore News Fishermen f A STORM is brewing in the West Coast commercial fishing industry, and a few North Shore residents are caught in the middle of it. The dispute lies in the percent- age of Pacific salmon commercial fishermen will be allowed to catch under the 1986 Pacific Salmon Allocation Plan. Gillnetters and seiners appear satisfied with the new plan, while trollers feel cheated. Trollers had sought 33 per cent of allowable Fraser River sockeye catch but received just 24 per cent for the upcoming season. The Minister’s Advisory Council (MAC), representing a cross-s¢c- tion of the sport and commercial fishing industry on the West Coast, had recommended even less for the trollers (22.8 per cent). On the other hand, MAC recommended gillnetters be allot- ted 29.7 per cent and seiners be given a 47.5 per cent share. COMPROMISE Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) compromised by allocating an additional 100,000 sockeye to the Gulf trollers. The department also gave Guif trollers 50,000 of the allotted Chinook catch, leaving 225,000 for the sport fishery. Troflers had sought a catch limit of 125,000 chinook. Neither the Pacific nor the Gulf Troller Associations were pleased with the make up of the MAC, and pulled out of the council, saying they thought it was dominated by gillnet and seine fishermen. As expected ihe two troll associations responded angrily to the 1986 plan, saying it will lead to confrontation and will force trollers to concentrate more on sensitive coho and chinook stocks. In line with his colleagues, North Vancouver troller Dave Macintosh thinks the catch limits are not fairly allocated when tak- ing into account the number of people involved in the three dif- ferent types of fisheries. “7 think the trollers got tco low a percentage in this particular By BILL ARMSTRONG Contributing Writer However, MacIntosh added that the 33 per cent trollers had sought may have been too high. He pointed out that American fishernen took ‘ta huge amount” of salmon, and that gillnetters fishing the Fraser River bore the brunt of the Canadian governme- nt's conservation measures, because Americans took so much ish. "In 1982, trollers took: almost 40 per cent of the: sockeye share:on the west coast of -Vancouver Island.’’ As a result, MacIntosh said the regulations for this coming season were not made with the idea of equally dividing the fish between the three fishing fleets. MacIntosh said the percentage should be based on all types of fish. But because of the treaty with the United States, the trollers are down on the number of chinook and coho catches, he said. “They (trollers) should be given a fairer amount of sockeye to replace that loss in chinook and coho. If the number of other fish are down for trollers then they should be given a higher percent- age of the sockeye. If all of the other species are up for the trollers -- weil then I think a little less on the sockeye would do because seiners and gillnetters, for exam- ‘27th year of service to tens of "thousands of domestic & foreign. car & light truck owners 1.C.B.C. vendor BCAA approved A.R.A. certified Quality workmanship — Trustworthy service \ 174 Pemberton Ave. N. Van, Roger McAfee 985*7455 , Linda Stewart ple, don't catch much coho and spring,’’ MacIntosh says. DIFFERENT REACTION Seiner Davin Karjala has a dif- ferent reaction than Macintosh to the new catch limits. Karjala said he was surprised at the government's decision because normaily, he is used to the DFO not paying attention to fishermen’s demands. However, Karjata believes the department is going to have to show ‘ta lot of wherewithall” to police allocation. “In 1982, for example, trollers took almost 40 per cent of the sockeye share off the west coast of Vancouver Island. What that means for a lot of people in the net fleet is that we were drastically curtailed on our openings,’’ Kar- jala said. Karjala pointed out that despite the two troll organizations pulling out of the MAC, there are several hundred trollers in the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union (UFAW) that were not in either association. Trollers in the UFAW had a good deal of input in developing the MAC's allocation plan, he said. LOBBY MINISTER But Karjala foresees some pro- blems with both troll associations out of the MAC, however, ‘‘They may seek to usurp an allocation program by doing a direct lobby job on the minister,’’ he says. Karjala is concerned as well about enforcing the new catch limits. ‘‘An allocation program is only as good as how weil it is en- forced,’ he says. According to Karjala, the minister is going to have to enter- tain notions of spot closures and even closing down the entire West Coast if the troll catch goes too high and runs over the limit. “Obviously for the trollers that’s a pretty distasteful notion,” he said. They're like us you know. They only get a few months out of the year to make a living,’? he says, Gillnetter end part-time troller Archie Kaaril believes the new United States-Canada fish treaty gives the Americans too much clout. AMERICANS FAVORED According to Kaaril, under the new treaty, the Americans are allowed to go after 27 to 30 per cent of Fraser River sockeye. The old treaty just took in waters south of the 49th parallel. That was a much smaller area and gave the Americans 50 per cent of a very small amount compared to 27-30 per cent of the total much larger amount, he says. Despite the controversy sur- ight over catch allocation rounding the new regulations, Kaaril is optimistic it will be a good year with this being the cycle year in the four-year cycle of the Fraser River sockeye run. “You've got to be a supreme optimist in this business,"’ he says. DFO is anticipating a better than average salmon fishery this year with a total catch of between 70,000 and 80,000 metric tonnes forecast. The department expects a Cana- dian catch of 6,900,000 suckeye fram the Fraser River ru: alone, 2a increase of 15 per cent over what would have been allowed without the recently signed Canada-United States treaty, it says. Although it will be a low year on the south coast for chum and pink salmon, sockeye and pink fishcries in the north and central coast regions are expected to be better than average, DFO says. N INTIMATE, PERSONAL SERVICE HOTEL IN A UNIQUE WATERFRONT SETTING. We are now accepting reservations for accommodations, banquets, weddings, and business meetings. Call Patsy Duggan 986-6111 Opening April CONSDALE QUAY HOTEL SHARE THE PLEASURE Every Friday with Tim Renshaw in Table Hopping: Attention Import Car Owners Welch 1525 Street North Vancouver _— Targa Performance 984-4338 Chris or Roberti We perform Quality work at Competitive Rates. British & Continental Motors 85-9181 | Chris or Brent We also feature a completely stocked parts department and offer full auto body & LC.BC. repair service. We are an authorized Pirelli Tire dealer for the North Shore. Joan Cripps Peter Speck, the publisher of the North Shore News, is pleased to announce the following appointments to the management team of the paper: Roger McAfee as Vico President, Corporate Planning &e Finance; Linda Stewart as Advertising Director, Joan Cripps as Circulation Manager; Gail Diffner as Office Manager. The North Shore News is one of the North Shore’s larger employers, with 100 employees, 925 carriers and 25 zone managers.