Officials unaware of activities of Aboriginal Fisheries Officers

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Leaked internal government documents stated the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had "no idea" what Aboriginal Fisheries Officers had been doing for the three-month summer fishing season.

The document, released by Reform fisheries critic John Cummins, is a Sept. 4 conservation and protection report penned by a DFO fisheries officer. It said the AFO's or Guardians had been ineffective in the enforcement of the Aboriginal Fishery, had not provided communications regarding their activities, and had pursued an agenda which was incompatible with the department's.

The criticism led Cummins to again call for a judicial inquiry into the West Coast salmon fishery problems.

The document is one of the tools developed by fishery officers and staff to help the department manage the resource, said Paul Sprout, DFO Acting Director Operations Branch, Pacific Region. It is one of three documents that have recently been leaked to Cummins.

"What you'll see in there is that we're not sure exactly what the Aboriginal fisheries program is doing. We haven't had the kind of communications with them that we think is appropriate. It simply indicates that we don't feel we know as much about the program, the activities they're carrying out, as we should," Sprout said.

Following that concern being raised, DFO conducted meetings with the leaders of the guardian program to clarify their tasks and the communications have improved, he said.

"It's an ongoing exercise and it's not over. We still need discussion and further meetings."

The Aboriginal Fisheries Guardian Patrol Program is designed to monitor the Native fishery, record the catch, and try to ensure compliance with the agreements that have been struck between the DFO and the individual Native groups, said Sprout.

The agreements allow for a certain amount of fish to be harvested and caught in a certain way. They allow for the sale of fish and where those fish can be landed. The guardians are involved in monitoring the landing stations and patrolling the river for illegal activities, he said.

But the author of the report is critical of the way the guardians are fulfilling their enforcement obligations. Very few early morning and evening patrols are conducted by the guardians, accuses the DFO officer.

Violators are found by DFO staff when no problems are observed by guardians and their ability to pursue and prosecute violators within the fishery have not improved over time, the report reads.

The problem may lie in the differences between how DFO and the guardians view their enforcement duties, said Sprout.

"The Native Guardians largely seek their activity as one of deterrence, i.e. their presence stops illegal activity. Our staff are concerned about identifying any individuals that are, in fact, fishing illegally. What is not clear is whether or not the Native guardian is seeing violations and not responding to them, though I have no evidence that this is the case, or whether in fact the way they are carrying out the patrols is done in a way that deters people from fishing," he said.

The guardian program, first introduced in 1992, is very young and it's not unexpected that it should be experiencing growing pains, said Sprout.

"You're seeing a situation coming forward, where people are point out, I think correctly, that there are problems that have to be addressed." He said the program is being refined so that it's made to work effectively and reaches a standard they're comfortable with.

"There has been a slot of criticism in 1994 that potentially the levels of illegal activities taking place in the Fraser River is a real problem. The evidence that we have in 1994, is there definitely has been some level of illegal activity of people fishing and mis-reporting fish, but on balance, we have no evidence to suggested that it was anywhere near the level that it may have been in the past, particularly in 1992."

Sprout said there has been illegal activity the DFO has come across, ut there is no reason to suggest the problems the West Coast salmon fishery has experienced this year are related to the Native fishery.