Food Fishing Issue

Left:  Sonja from Germany, with the first salmon she had ever caught.
Top & Right:  Suzane, reeling in and gaffing a fish for dinner.

These kayakers were exploring the waters surrounding the ancient Haida village of SGang Gwaii, on the Queen Charlotte Islands, during a guided 8-day wilderness kayak tour.

Sustainable hook & line food fishing was recently prohibited in the area.

Several high-intensity commercial fishing methods remain permitted in the area.

 Contents

Who are we?
The Gwaii Haanas Tour Operators Association (GHTOA) is a group of small eco-tourism companies who are licensed to bring a controlled number of visitors into Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve & Haida Heritage Site (Gwaii Haanas), located on the south end of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada.

GHTOA members provide the primary source of access to all Gwaii Haanas visitors.  Links to members, as well as our association's purpose and history, are all available online.

What?s the issue?  
GHTOA members advocate sustainable food fishing.  Yet, we have been caught in the crossfire of a new Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) regulation, which prohibits all hook-and-line fishing in the core of an essential tourism region.  This significantly impacts the quality of our guests? experiences as well as negatively affects our ability to successfully market our small tourism businesses to world travellers.  We seek to resolve this critical issue, while maintaining the GHTOA?s and DFO?s shared goal of preserving fish stocks.

Correspondence has been exchanged with the Canadian Government on this issue; copies are available online.

Proposed solutions are included below.

How did this occur?  
At the root of this issue is the fact that no consultation with the GHTOA or Parks Canada occurred while Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) were implemented in the waters surrounding Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve.

Parks Canada and the Council of the Haida Nation co-operatively manage Gwaii Haanas through the joint panel known as the Archipelago Management Board (AMB).  The AMB licenses tour operators and closely regulates all visitor activities in Gwaii Haanas.  In anticipation of the proposed National Marine Conservation Area Reserve (NMCAR) - which is planned for the waters surrounding Gwaii Haanas - the AMB long ago expanded their influence to include the management of ocean-based activities.

To qualify for a license, each tour operator must meet strict and costly requirements, as well as ensure their business operates within an established quota allocation.  (Business licenses include quota, which is the maximum number of visitors each tour operator is permitted to take into Gwaii Haanas.)

Both the GHTOA and the AMB were unaware that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was considering Rockfish Conservation Areas.  Ironically, in anticipation of the proposed National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, tour operators and the AMB were exchanging correspondence on the topic of prospective fishing regulations.  During this exchange, the Canadian Government assured us that "any decision on closures will be made in consultation with residents and stakeholders, including tour operators." 

Today, fishing closures have been implemented, yet no GHTOA consultation ever occurred.  A crucial and significant gap exists in the Rockfish Conservation Area consultation process and, as a result, a large RCA was established in the heart of the most essential tourism region in Gwaii Haanas.

Why is this a problem?
All hook-and-line fishing is now prohibited in a vital tourism region where GHTOA members have a long history of sustainable food fishing.

Rockfish Conservation Areas were implemented on April 1, 2004.  Incredibly, it was over six months later when Parks Canada first became aware of the RCAs.  Parks Canada then immediately notified tour operators of the fishing closures.  To GHTOA members? dismay, our initial notice of the closures occurred only after a full season of unknowingly fishing illegally within the recently established RCAs.  Clearly, serious flaws exist in the communications surrounding the consultation, implementation and notification of the RCAs.

The recently established RCA 59 extends for kilometres around Anthony Island, where the ancient Haida Indian village of SGang Gwaay (aka Ninstints) exists.  In 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the abandoned Haida village of SGang Gwaay as a World Heritage Site.  The historical village is unique; it?s totem poles and World Heritage designation attracts travellers from around the globe.

Extreme weather conditions, remoteness and AMB regulations combine to make this region nearly uninhabited and clearly uncrowded.  A controlled number of dedicated visitors manage to reach the area during the short summer months.  

Sustainable food fishing is an integral part of the Gwaii Haanas experience.  Tour operators and their clients are negatively impacted as a result of the ban imposed on fishing all species of rockfish and salmon.  Most seriously affected are multi-day self supported wilderness sea kayak expedition companies and their clients.  These small eco-tourism businesses provide week-long kayak tours completely within the area now designated as RCA 59.  Participants on these human powered sea kayaking expeditions are unable travel outside of RCA 59.

Fishing from a small paddle-craft allows visitors to more deeply realize our connection to the sea and more fully appreciate the rich Haida history of the area.  Kayakers on self-supported wilderness experiences must be permitted to continue the respectful, sustainable practice of food fishing.

The removal of our right to food fish is an extremely serious blow to the quality of experience we are able to provide to our clients.  Furthermore, tour companies are experiencing significant negative marketing impacts, since we are now prohibited from offering the quintessential Canadian experience of catching a fish from a small vessel to be enjoyed fresh for the evening meal.  In  perhaps its purist form, a sea kayaking guest can no longer have the unique experience of catching a fish from a kayak, bringing it ashore and cooking it over a campfire.

The actual number of fish caught by Gwaii Haanas tour visitors during the summer months is insignificant when compared to the vast quantities harvested year-round by commercial fishing fleets.

Commercial fishing methods permitted in RCAs include:

• crab by trap

• prawn by trap

• scallops by trawl

• salmon by seine or gillnet

• herring by gillnet, seine and spawn-on-kelp

• sardine by gillnet, seine, and trap

• smelt by gillnet

• euphausiid (krill) by mid-water trawl

• opal squid by seine

• groundfish by mid-water trawl

These high-intensity commercial fishing methods result in considerable "by-catch" of rockfish and other non-targeted species.  When considering all the different methods of commercial fishing permitted within Rockfish Conservation Areas, it's highly probable that the year-round commercial rockfish by-catch will consistently far outweigh the few fish tour clients may catch during the short summer season.  Commercial by-catch is typically pushed back into the sea, dead or mortally wounded.  Food fishers keep what they catch and take only enough for the next meal. 

RCA regulations permit commercial and First Nations vessels to harvest thousands of kilograms of fish, while a food fisher is denied the right to drop a hook in hopes of catching a single fish for dinner. 

Results of the DFOs 2000 Recreational Fishing Survey of Canada indicate; "The recreational fishery provides significant economic benefits for Canada.  Despite a drop in activity, sport fishing remains one of the most popular pastimes for Canadians and visitors alike, and one of the best ways of increasing awareness of the benefits of protecting and enhancing our natural resources for future generations."

Proposed solutions:
Through discussion with Gary Logan (DFO's team leader for Rockfish Conservation Areas), we have been made aware of the need for solutions which meet DFO?s enforcement requirements.  We understand that Fisheries Officers must be able to legally enforce DFO regulations.

With a new National Marine Conservation Area Reserve proposed for this region, we hope the Canadian Government will take the opportunity to resolve the negative eco-tourism impacts resulting from the regulations recently implemented by DFO.