Co-operation needed to save B.C. fisheries

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British Columbia's commercial fishing industry is in a state of anxiety, uncertainty and strain, reveals a report from the province's Fish Processing Strategic Task Force.

Unless co-operative problem-solving replaces self-interest and completion for short-term advantage, the B.C. commercial fishery could be faced with "stock extinction, business failure and internal strife," concludes the report.

The provincial task force was established in October 1993 to develop a strategy that would guide the industry to a healthy future. Rose Davison, a councillor from Ucluelet, represented the coastal communities.

"I'm satisfied with the report. I don't mind my name being on it," said Davison, who added her only disappointment was with the lack of input from B.C.'s Native groups. "If they're not involved in the process, how do they learn and/or take advantage of opportunities?"

In the report, First Nations communities were determined to have the same fishery-related problems as other coastal communities including infrastructure, power, supply services, trained labor and operating costs. But added to the mix was the remoteness of these communities. The task force concluded these settlements suffered some of the most "intense pressure" from global competition.

Recommendations from the task force will alleviate those pressures, said Davison. It's important these communities start to move away from the salmon, cod and herring fishery and start taking advantage of the niche markets that favor delicacies like octopus and sea urchin that have opened up in the Pacific Rim. Products such as smoked salmon and smoked canned salmon, that come in packaging decorated with Native art, are already being sold in this market. The task force sees Native culture and art as a strong marketing tool.

"An important market opportunity exists if innovative processing techniques are married to the powerful marketing tool that First Nations art represents."

Pressures from outside the industry have taken their toll and reshaped the market over the last 20 years, the report reads. From falling salmon market prices, and changes in international trade law due to increased foreign competition, the commercial industry has taken its lumps.

However, it is the internal battles, those between such groups as the United Fishermen or Allied Union Workers and B.C.'s main processors, or First Nations and other communities, that have added significantly to the strain, the task force reports.

The province can either "continue on a course of dealing with the industry using ad hoc crisis management, satisfying stakeholders who wield the greatest political clout, "or it can work to develop a business strategy that will make the industry competitive while protecting the resource and creating economic opportunity.

The road to such a business environment begins with the development of a regulatory system that provides equivalent rights and obligations to all stakeholders in the commercial fishery.

The task force also suggests transferring management and enforcement responsibility to the communities in the cases of new and non-migratory fish species.

The industry has to make some important changes in the near future or more than the processing sector will suffer, said Davison. There is a ripple effect. Everybody gets hurt.