There are two components to what we do. The first is collaborative round table fisheries management. What we found is that when you have people sitting around the table from different sectors who have basic differences, and they're coming from an advocacy viewpoint, getting small groups together with representatives and asking them to sit down, and talk, and work out their differences has been successful.
We started with one pilot project in area 23, which is our Barkley Sound one. We began with tremendous conflict and people purposely doing things that were contrary to legal situations because they were angry and upset, felt unheard, and felt it wasn't fair. They were just going to go ahead and do the stuff anyway, and then, of course, you have court costs, litigation costs, and enforcement costs.
Now we have a situation where the local fisheries officers will tell you that although there are still infractions, they're caused mainly because people don't know. They are new people coming in, or they haven't been incorporated into the process yet. The sector leader will generally talk to those people, bring them into the process, and explain to them why certain actions are not acceptable.
It has been helpful, and it has also been helpful for allowing first nations, government partners, and fishermen to get along together, so much so that we've expanded from that one area. The sector representatives have asked to work with other sectors and other tables, and do the same type of process, because they find it so much more valuable to sit around, as we're sitting right now, and talk about the issues. People get upset because resource management is close our hearts, we have to defend it, and we have to represent our constituents. You're in a process that allows for caucusing, going away, and then coming back, and you can come to some reasonable agreements. That's what has happened in the round tables that we're managing. We're coming to these reasonable agreements.
Another thing that has happened is that fishermen have voluntarily given up some of their earnings to provide income or support for habitat stewardship. Last year they gave to the tune of $150,000, which was just a voluntary donation given to stewards to increase the health of the area. The round tables for habitat restoration bring people together who may have a fragmented view, because everybody has their certain things. It gets them to focus, get these big things out of the way, and get them done. That's where the need came from. We realized that if you have something big that's broken, then paintings its toenails doesn't work. You have to get in there and you have to fix it, right?
Thank you.