The major factor is that the majority of enterprises on the west coast rely heavily on the leasing of access rights in order to be able to continue their businesses. On the east coast, the majority of small boat inshore enterprises have a lobster licence or a snow crab licence as the foundation for their enterprise. That's almost a career for a captain and crew once they have that. They're not so reliant from year to year on getting into different....
In B.C., there isn't that sort of foundational fish stock that you can build a business around. The industry there depends on access. Because of the ownership of licences by non-fishing interests, that comes at a high price. Seventy per cent to 80% of landed value goes to pay leasing fees.