Fisheries

The hot button issue of this campaign regarding Halibut stems from the 2003 Kelleher report which prompted the government to set the recreational catch ceiling at 12%, 3% more than the report recommended by the Kelleher report.

While the report was a good start, it is just a framework. I recommend a permanent scientific and mathematical solution be implemented, allowing the real numbers of fish available to be allocated to meet the demands of both commercial and recreational fisherman. I recommend that bag limits and the ceiling for recreational anglers be set based on the needs of their industry not only as a percentage of the available fishery, but as a fixed minimum number as well. This will ensure the fishery will not be closed in season for recreational angling and will guarantee a healthy sport fishing industry regardless of the condition of the stocks. Commercial fishermen would follow, being allocated their percentage of the fishery, but with no guarantee the number of fish they can catch will equal their allotted percentage.

This mentality and approach, which favors recreational angling over big box fishing, is in line with the general sentiments of the people of this region who do not want the stocks depleted or the recreational industry shut down because a bunch of commercial high volume ships cleaned out the stocks faster than the recreational fishermen ever could.

I would also draw your attention to the underlying issue which pressures the industry, particularly commercial, to demand ever larger numbers of fish to feed their industry. The issue I speak of is the systemic and gradual erosion of all new capital to the usurius financial system, which demands an ever increasing percentage of new capital to cover the costs of previous debt obligations. This type of financial system that we labor under is not sustainable, and is now generally accepted as terminal. As such, there is no other industry whatsoever, including fishing and forestry, which can ultimately sustain this exponentially compounding system unless they themselves are exponentially compounding, which they are not. Therefore, the fishing industry, the forestry industry, and all other industries are put under impossible pressure to perform when they simply cannot keep up.

Please consider having a serious look at the problem of a system like ours which issues money as debt bearing compound interest, and we're sure you'll agree that above all, the financial system must be fixed first, and unless we do, there will be no end of trouble with all other areas of our economy including halibut fishing.