By Paul Rudan
Campbell River Mirror
Feb 17 2006

Improving the credibility of the federal fisheries ministry on the West Coast won't be an easy task for the new Conservative minister.

Loyola Hearn, a six-year MP from St. John's, Newfoundland, is the new minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, commonly referred to by the old acronym DFO.

"I grew up on a boat. I know how important it is for fishermen to get a chance to earn a living," he said during a phone interview from Ottawa.

On Wednesday, Hearn provided the Mirror with a brief 10-minute interview on how he plans to address some of key issues for commercial fishermen on B.C.'s South Coast. Specifically, he spoke on management of Fraser River sockeye, enforcement, DFO's commitment to science, and DFO's credibility on the West Coast.

"We've done a poor job," he said, referring to the ministry under Liberal rule.

Most of the concerns for commercial fishermen centre around the Fraser River sockeye fishery. In short, the last few years have been disastrous in terms of opportunities to catch sockeye.

Commercial fishermen - as well as First Nations people going out to get food fish - have been allowed very few chances to fish for sockeye which is the most lucrative of all the salmon fisheries.

The problem is compounded when long-time fishermen see millions of sockeye heading south through Johnstone and Georgia Straits, on their way to the Fraser, but are forbidden to go fishing. Last year, an estimated 8.8 million sockeye returned to the Fraser River system but fishermen had only a brief opportunity to set their nets, and only after most of the fish had passed by.

DFO's reason is almost always conservation, highlighted by the dwindling Cultus Lake sockeye. Last year, 378 sockeye returned to Cultus Lake - a popular lake used for recreation and surrounded by urban development and agriculture - and conservation of that meagre run was used as the reason to deny commercial fishermen a chance to earn a living.

"We've had 26 days of fishing in the last 12 years...it's terrible," said Bill Henderson of the Campbell River Indian Band, who operates a seiner for the Canadian Fishing Co., and who spoke to the Mirror last summer. "I have another trade but for a lot of guys, fishing is all they do. It's impossible to live like this."

Hearn didn't have any specific remedy for the problem of how to balance industry with conservation but he believes stakeholders should have more say in the decision-making process.

"We want to broaden our advisory groups, especially when contentious decisions are made," he said.

Hearn also said he plans to address enforcement issues. In particular, trying to get a handle on illegal fishing on the Fraser River. Hearn said he won't put up with First Nations bands or commercial fishermen who do as they please.
"Everyone has to be treated like under the law...we can't stand back and watch people blatantly break the law," he said.

The new minister also promised to boost funding for scientific research - the cornerstone of DFO which has largely been undermanned and underfunded during the Liberal's rule.

"That's a commitment we made during the campaign," he said. "We know very little about what is going in the ocean."
Hearn said his first weeks as minister - he was formerly the Conservative Fisheries critic - have been a "baptism by fire." He would like to do more about making the West Coast fishermen feel not so alienated by Ottawa and said he learned a lot during a visit to the coast, and Vancouver Island, last year.

"I'd love to come back within days, rather than weeks," he said with a laugh from freezing Ottawa.

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