Good afternoon, honourable members of the standing committee. Thank you for this opportunity to speak about west coast fisheries. Anyone who knows my family will be shocked if I can fit this into seven minutes.
My name is Peter de Greef. I am an active commercial fisherman. I am a partner with my uncle in an independent fishing vessel, the Optimist No. 1, which annually harvests halibut, sablefish and albacore tuna and is also licensed for salmon and rockfish. Our operation has three generations of family involved. Over the past 35 years, I have trolled for salmon and tuna, longlined for halibut and sablefish, gillnetted for roe herring and packed sea urchins and sea cucumber.
For the past 12 years since becoming a vessel owner and licence owner, I have volunteered my time on various boards, committees and associations. Currently, I am the vice-president of the B.C. Tuna Fishermen's Association and a director of the Pacific Halibut Management Association. I sit on the Tuna Advisory Board and on the offshore Pacific region area of interest advisory committee. Most recently, I was appointed as a Canadian commissioner to the International Pacific Halibut Commission.
I speak of these only to show my experience. I am not here representing any entity other than myself as an active independent fisherman.
What my family's independent fishing enterprise requires to be successful is stable access to fish, access to fishing grounds, access to capital, access to competitive markets and access to a fair share of profits. My crew and I also need a safe working environment.
To me, stable access to fish means a stable and sustainable stock and the ability to harvest that stock in a predictable manner. With this in mind, ITQs perform well, especially in combination with our world-renowned and sophisticated integrated groundfish management system, which allows for very little waste of bycatch. Fishers are excellent at targeting species they are after, but not so great at avoiding bycatch. This system holds them accountable and changes behaviour. Transferability is essential for this to work properly.
Access to fishing grounds is simple: the ability to harvest fish where the fish are or could be. Marine protected areas, if not properly implemented, threaten this access.
Access to capital is an issue as well. Licences and quota are extremely expensive. Presently, most fishers make arrangements with processors, large quota holders, family or lending institutions. Processor loans generally come at the cost of independence. Lending institutions will loan on vessels, but very few lend on licences and quota. Those that do need a minimum 50% down payment. A family connection to quota and capital has been invaluable to me, but not everyone has that opportunity.
Access to competitive markets that buy and pay well is also critical. As far as I can see, buyers have done an excellent job in developing new markets in some fisheries and are challenged in others. However, I must note that with so many fishers tied to companies it can be a challenge for independent fishers to get a competitive price.
In order to keep an experienced and dedicated crew and to ensure a vessel is safely maintained, it is important to have a fair share of the profits. Our present family operation has a fair share arrangement. This evolved from my uncle wanting me to continue running his boat and fish his quotas and from my needing some security if I were to continue to fish. In the past, I had crewed in a herring roe lease operation. It never went very well, so I was skeptical about getting into the leasing aspect of fisheries.
The arrangement with my uncle went well, and we decided to form a partnership, buy out my father's boat and gain access to his quotas. It has worked well over the years for crew, vessel and quota holders, as everyone is pulling in the same direction. There are challenges, but mostly due to outside pressures.
The little bit of quota I bought was bought a number of years ago before the values had spiked in groundfish. For me to buy groundfish quota now and maintain the fair share structure would be next to impossible. First, the prices are so high for quota that the returns would not be enough to cover the interest rates.
The truth is there are still a lot of fair share arrangements out there, but for how long?
Another aspect to consider is safety. I was appalled to read that commercial fishing is the deadliest industry, as per a recent analysis in The Globe and Mail. The idea that being a fisher is 14 times more dangerous than being a police officer was shocking. I would attribute a considerable amount of this to socio-economic factors. When there is no money to attract long-term quality crew or to invest in vessel maintenance and new boats, any issues that arise are compounded. Inexperienced crew and vessel breakdown incidents lead to increased deaths, in my opinion.
The ITQ system has done an excellent job delivering on its conservation objectives, but unfortunately, no socio-economic objectives were ever stated, so it has failed to deliver. That does not mean it cannot deliver. Similar to groundfish integration, if objectives are stated, B.C. fishers will deliver. A made-in-B.C. solution developed by the industry stakeholders through our advisory processes with specific socio-economic objectives is the best way forward.
Each fishery has its own challenges so it is best to keep consulting on a fishery-by-fishery basis. One grassroots initiative is the shared benefit and risk proposal. It has gained support from a large number of skippers, crew, vessel owners and licensing quota owners. It could be weighed against other proposals to determine which works best for each fishery.
In summary, the west coast is unique, and although the fishing industry currently lacks in supporting specific socio-economic goals, good things are happening. To foster change properly, a process with the stated conservation and socio-economic objectives should be developed for engagement at the DFO advisory board level for a number of fisheries on the west coast.
