Nuu-chah-nulth speaking out

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The largest-ever delegation of Nuu-chah-nulth at the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) made strong inroads to having a voice in international halibut fisheries management in late January.

The commission is made up of processors, fishermen, three Canadian commissioners, three American commissioners, IPHC staff, scientists, biologists and fisheries managers from both Canada and the United States. The mandate of the IPHC is to provide the information required to manage the resource for conservation and to provide the information required in developing sustainable halibut fisheries. The IPHC is equally funded by the governments of Canada and the United States and is based at the University of Washington Seattle campus. The current budget is $1.6 million dollars. Other revenue is obtained from the selling of halibut and bycatch during stock assessment surveys. The structure of the IPHC consists of the Commission staff, three appointed Canadian, and three appointed American commissioners, Canadian and American conference boards and the Processor Advisory Group (PAG). Commissioner appointments are made by the respective governments.

"This is where all the regulations are made," said Ditidaht's Carl Edgar Jr., who was the first Nuu-chah-nulth person to gain admittance to the commission in 1994. "We're still trying to get a First Nations commercial allocation. It's an uphill battle as there's not much of a change in the way the halibut fishery is structured, but we keep trying," he said.

According to Edgar Jr., the Makah Nation helped him gain a seat at the commission table in the early 1990s after spending seven years getting a seat for themselves.

Nuu-chah-nulth leader Cliff Atleo Sr., one of three Canadian IPHC Commissioners, and a delegation of 10 Nuu-chah-nulth halibut fishermen attended the 79th annual meeting held this year at Victoria's Empress Hotel.

"It's expensive to fish for halibut (around $360,000 for a licence with a small quota of 30,000 lbs.) and the quotas have locked up the fishery," said Carl. "We want to be able to fish like everyone else but the licence fees are way out of our reach," he said.

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Even under food, social, and ceremonial fishing permits, Native fishermen face the same restrictions and regulations as do non-Native commercial fishermen, and are unable to sell any of their product. Now that Nuu-chah-nulth have a seat at the table and a vote, fishermen like Carl Edgar and Andy Amos are encouraged that things could get better.

"It's been a real education for us, and now we're involved in changes and our votes and voices count," said Amos.

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council southern region biologist Jim Lane asked the IPHC's support in studying depleted halibut stocks off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

"I'd like to put forward a motion that the IPHC work with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations to investigate halibut depletions in areas where populations have not recovered and propose remedies," he said. "We need to map areas of decline where populations have not recovered after 30 years and find methods of fixing the problem," he added. The motion was carried unanimously.

According to Amos, this marked the first time a Nuu-chah-nulth motion had come before the commission, and it was important that it received support from people involved in the halibut fishery from Washington State all the way up to Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

"It's very important that we find out the root of halibut depletion on the west coast of Vancouver Island," said Amos.