Jeremy Maynard wrote an article about the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Pacific Halibut Allocation Policy. Commenting the President of PHMA said that Maynard has commercial recreational background, which according to DFO accounts for the majority (69 per cent) of all recreationally-caught halibut. As such he has a vested interest in the halibut allocation issue; he is not an independent bystander, says the President.
He told that there are many misrepresentations in Maynard’s article; however, he will focus on just two. First, Maynard claims that there are “credible estimates accepted by government” that recreationally-caught halibut generates between $15 and $20 per pound for the economy. PHMA said these estimates were not accepted by the federal government, are not credible and were simply manufactured by the recreational sector to promote its own self-interest.
Second, despite Maynard’s claim, the PHMA has never acknowledged recreational halibut are twice the value of commercially-caught halibut, admit the president. From Maynard’s perspective, everyone except the recreational sector is wrong. The independent allocation advisor (a respected mediator and arbitrator and now a BC Supreme Court Judge) hired by DFO to recommend fair and equitable halibut allocations had it wrong when he advised 91 percent for the commercial sector and nine per cent for the recreational sector.
In this context the then Liberal federal fisheries minister had it wrong when he subsequently announced in 2003 that the shares would be 88 percent for the commercial sector and 12 per cent for the recreational sector (33 per cent above the recommended recreational allocation). PHMA describe Maynard’s article as one-sided, vested interest diatribe.
