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Based on the discussions at the workshop, the
BC Seafood Alliance makes the following eight recommendations to
make co-management an effective tool for improving both conservation
and economic performance.
1.
Both industry and government agree that co-management or
shared stewardship is desirable and should therefore work together
to develop clearly defined policies and programs in support of it.
2.
DFO should clarify the governing policies and legalities
of co-management funding mechanisms and provide clear direction
to managers in the field about their use.
3. DFO should identify
the costs it incurs in managing a fishery to provide a baseline
for setting cost-sharing formulae and sharing responsibilities.
4. Industry and
government need to build a new relationship based on trust, open
communication and mutual accountability.
5. DFO should improve
its current advisory and decision-making processes, perhaps using
the Australian model. Improvements should include establishing dispute
resolution and decision-making processes that can deal quickly and
effectively with in-season issues and discourage "end-runs"
around the system.
6. DFO should reduce
and preferably eliminate internal conflicts between decisions under
the Oceans Act and those under the Fisheries Act.
7. DFO and industry
should work together to achieve greater security of access for individual
licence holders through regulation or policy, such as policy statements
from the Minister about allocation, regulation of the maximum number
of licences, or access to fisheries.
8. All parties should
work to improve public perception of and support for co-management.
Public confidence that the resource is better protected by co-management
than solely by government regulation is essential. |
