Fish harvesters want increase in cod quota

By Clayton Hunt

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

Fish harvesters in the Coast of Bays, N.L. recommended an increase in the 2008-2009 cod quota in area 11 of 3Ps from 13,000 to 14,500 metric tons at a meeting with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officials in Harbour Breton in early February.

The meeting was part of the federal DFO consultation process with fish harvesters to obtain their recommendations for the 2008-2009 cod fishery in 3Ps, which runs from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009.

George Feltham, the vice-president of the inshore sector with the FFAW/CAW, said that the consultation process is important for all stakeholders because the meetings provide an opportunity for harvesters to put their opinions forward on stock assessment and the stock management of the future.

Mildred Skinner, a FFAW/CAW official who represents fishers in area 11, said the key recommendation made by harvesters was the increase in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC).

"Based on fish harvesters' observations, good catch rates, a good cross section of different year classes in both the inshore and offshore sectors of the cod fishery in 3Ps over the past two to three years and the return of cod to their traditional grounds, we feel that the industry could absorb a cod increase in the upcoming fishery," she said.

But John Brattey, a research scientist with DFO, said science does not see any information to suggest changes in the TAC right now.

"Our main concern at the moment is the lower number of young fish coming into the stock. From the information we've looked at these young fish are not as abundant as they were a few years ago," he said. "This is a concern because these fish will feed into the commercial size fishery in the next few years, and the stock won't be as abundant as it has been.

“If it's stable now, and we've been fishing 13,000 MT, we don't feel an increase in the TAC would be warranted at this time especially with this slightly weaker recruitment coming in," he added.

The final decision regarding the TAC for the 2008-2009 cod fishery in 3Ps rests in the hands of the Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, who will make a decision in March.

Another way fish harvesters were told they can be involved in the consultation process with DFO is to turn in their log books to the department's science branch. The meeting was told some log books, with harvesters in the under 35-foot fleet, are not being returned and some that are being returned are not filled out correctly.

(Clayton Hunt is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Coaster newspaper and a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)