Canada: Feds launch licence buyback plan to scale down British Columbia's salmon fishing fleet

Ottawa has launched its awaited fisheries licence buyback program to protect plummeting Pacific salmon stocks on the West Coast. Looking to fix the problem of too many boats chasing too few fish, on Wednesday, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) unveiled details on its voluntary commercial licence retirement (LRP) program that will pay salmon harvesters to exit the industry. However, the union for commercial fishers says first impressions suggest the plan is “deeply disappointing” and designed to drive down the value of licences being bought out. “It just picks off the most desperate people who need the money and have no other choice,” said James Lawson, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union (UFAWU). DFO says fish harvesters will get market value for their retired licences based on publicly available assessments prior to 2021 (nearly 60 per cent of commercial salmon fisheries were shuttered that year). The buyback program will use a reverse bid system where ...