8 - Wednesday, March 25, 1987 - North Shore News

Mailbox —

CLOSURE ON PRAWN CRAB TRAPPING
Terry Jacks responds to letter

Dear Editor:

Let's get the facts straight! In
reply to Cam McKenzie’s letter
(March 20), he failed to mention
that he and his friend are shrimp
trawlers and drag the ocean floor
for shrimp and whatever else that
may accidentally get in the way of
their net.

I talked to Mr. McKenzie (whom
1 have known for a number of
years) and he admitted he should
have spoken to me before he wrote
his letter. However, he said he was
only prompted to write after he
had been unknowingly misled by
your reporter’s usc of words such
as ‘‘shellfish fishery’’, ‘‘commer-
cial shellfishing’’, ‘‘shrimp fish-
ermen’’ and ‘‘shellfish stocks’’.

The ambiguous term ‘‘commer-
cial shellfishing’’ (which entails
numerous varieties of marine life)
and the commercial method of
shrimp fishing (called shrimp
trawling or dragging) were not
discussed by your reporter and
myself, and although your reporter
may have talked to others in the

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article regarding these things, the
only issue I discussed was a pro-
posed permanent closure on prawn
and crab trapping for the already
designated charted area known as
The Horseshoe Bay Harbor
Limit.

1} would like to remind Mr.
McKenzie that | am acting only as

a spokesman for a large number of —

sportsmen and families who are
seeking a recreational prawn and
crab trap fishery set aside within
this small congested area.

Contrary to Mr. McKenzie’s
belief, my prime source of income
for the last eight years has been
derived from the coastal crab fish-
ery and I have held and activated a
commercial license to fish prawns
and crabs for 12 years, but have
thought it wrong to trap commer-
cially within this recreationally ac-
tive area, made up of five marinas,
three yacht clubs, six ocean-side
parks, four public beaches, five
major salmon fishing areas and an
underwter park. This area is also
used by at least half a dozen eport-

sfish guiding outfits, as well as be-
ing a haven for a number of scuba
diving clubs.

f think we all believe in fairness
and it has been very upsetting for
us to watch this little area invaded
(within the last three years) by two
or three ocean-going commercial
vessels, who drop hundreds of
traps and fish the area day and
night during the openings, taking
away the year-round enjoyment
from a large number of recre-
ational fishermen and their fami-
lies by leaving little or nothing
behind them.

This harbor limit is on the edge
of a community of one and a half
million people and there is already
a shortage of sheltered water
available for small recreational
boaters who choose to trap accor-
ding to the sports fishing regula-
tions. (A recreational prawn fish-
erman has to pul! his four
weighted traps 300 ft. by hand and
is limited in his catch; whereas a
commercial prawn fisherman can
take any amount he wishes, any

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size, and can fish as many traps as
he wants, pulling them
hydraulically).

You're right, Cam, the recre-
ational trappers in this area have
been dying off over the last little
while, for it has been ‘‘too much

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work for nothing’, but we are still
very sore over what happened, and
are now hoping to rectify the situ-
ation.

Terry Jacks
West Vancouver

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