The eye of enforcement is always on the groundfish fleet as they targets strange bug-eyed fish in the ocean depths far off the B.C. coast. The federal government employs a combination of on-board human monitors or electronic video monitoring along with dockside validation of catches to ensure that the groundfish fleet complies with fisheries regulations.
If violations found Ottawa pursues formal court charges only as a last resort. Groundfish fleet statistics for 2009 show a total of 155 enforcement “occurrences” during 3,060 fishing trips that varied between one day and a matter of weeks. Of those 155 occurrences, 44 resulted in warnings being issued, 54 resulted in no action due to being minor in nature or because they involved fishing for aboriginal “food, social and ceremonial reasons,” and 56 cases remain open.
Experts informed that the groundfish fishery applies to both trawl and hook-and-line fleets catching a wide variety of species that include halibut, hake, rockfish, sablefish, ling cod, spiny dogfish, flounder and skate. Officials insist the groundfish fleet is largely complying with the rules of a three-year pilot management program — the “integrated fisheries management system” — that has now become permanent.
