Seine Fishery

Looks like some folks in the northwest here are beginning to realize that seiners in Area 4 Skeena are fishing 24 hours a day, 4 days week right now....Hearing this fact does tend to make you wonder what's going on! Has DFO gone crazy and allowed the seiners unlimited access?
Well, simple answer is no...DFO and the seiners are experimenting with a new fishery management technique called Individual Tranferable Quotas.
Weekly fish catch targets are set, which the boats cannot exceed. They do however have a longer amount of time to reach this set target or quota. The idea being; given more time the fishers can handle the target fish better thus affording higher quality product and prices. Additionally, given more time the fishers can handle non-target fish in a better fashion releasing them with higher survival rates.
This will be interesting to see how this test fishery is evaluated at the end of the season as it does have promise. But, compliance and proper enforcement are keys to success.