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

Published Dec 15, 2022

Tridge summary

Canada's Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has initiated a voluntary commercial licence retirement (LRP) program to address the decline in Pacific salmon stocks, allocating $123 million from the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative. The program aims to buy back licences from salmon harvesters, but the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union (UFAWU) expresses dissatisfaction with the plan, viewing it as undervaluing licences and driving down industry standards. The program will utilize a reverse bid system and will be complemented by initiatives for disposing of derelict vessels and funding First Nations to purchase commercial licences for other fish species. However, UFAWU argues that the funding is insufficient to address the needs of struggling fish harvesters and fails to address the lack of compensation for gear and vessels, and the impact on crew members when a licence is retired.

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Original content

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 ...

Source: Nationalobserver