Prince Edward Island Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Allan Campbell said he is strongly opposed to cuts in the province’s share of the halibut fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Earlier this week, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced an increase in the 2007 total allowable catch, but Prince Edward Island’s share is being reduced to 1.46 percent, or approximately five metric tonnes. Last year, Prince Edward Island fishermen landed 13 metric tonnes.
“The process for allocating shares of the halibut fishery is totally unacceptable to Prince Edward Island, and violates the principles of sound fisheries management,” said Mr. Campbell. “By basing the allocation solely on historical landings, it completely overlooks other principles such as adjacency, equity and fairness, and denies Prince Edward Island fishers their rightful share of the resource.”
Mr. Campbell said that Prince Edward Island fishers landed close to five percent of the total catch in recent years, and that the fishery was increasing in value to fishers. He said that overfishing by other fleets during the early spring months while Island fishers were engaged in the lobster fishery also meant that fewer halibut were available historically. He said that basing shares on historic landings alone fails to take into account flaws in past management regimes.
Mr. Campbell said that the increase in the total allowable catch should be shared equally in the region. Most of the increase this year goes to the Newfoundland and Quebec fleets.
The Minister said that the Independent Panel for Access Criteria has stated that other factors besides historical landings such as adjacency, fairness and equity, growth and decline in stocks and community dependency must also be taken into account in establishing regional shares. He said these must be essential factors in determining shares.
“At a time when the total allowable catch for halibut is being increased by more than 35 percent, Prince Edward Island’s share is being reduced by over 50 percent of the average landings of the past three years,” said Mr. Campbell.
Mr. Campbell said that halibut is one of the most valuable species of groundfish, and that a reduction in allocation is a further blow to the province’s already-struggling groundfishery. He is requesting a meeting with DFO Minister Loyola Hearn to discuss this and other fisheries issues.