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by David Wiwchar
Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter
Apr. 20, 2006

The Bamfield Huu-ay-aht Community Abalone Project (BHCAP) is once again battling bureaucracy, after they were led to believe problems relating to selling excess Abalone stocks were over.

Last year, BHCAP were told they could not sell a portion of their hatchery raised stock, even though Fisheries and Oceans Canada had told them since the projects' inception that they could.

The introduction of the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and listing of the Northern Abalone as a threatened species, threw a brick wall in front of the project, which requires sales revenues in order to continue.

In December of last year, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada allowed an exemption to certain SARA provisions, and BHCAP started arranging their first sale.

"We had arranged a small sale with a Vancouver sushi restaurant, only ten pounds, just to get the process started," said BHCAP board member Larry Johnson. "But when they saw all the paperwork they would have to go through, just to get a small shipment, the restauranteur decided it wasn't worth the effort, and pulled out," he said.

According to Johnson, Abalone raised at the BHCAP hatchery in Bamfield would have to be driven to a processing plant, where processors would verify the number of Abalone in the shipment. From there, they would be driven to the restaurant, where the owner would have to sign for the Abalone, along with the truck driver, processor, and representatives from BHCAP and DFO.

"How are you going to get all those people to sign the paperwork at the same place and the same time?" asked Johnson. "How they expect a system like that to work is beyond me," he said.

"DFO has not been helpful as we've had to drag them all the way," said BHCAP president John Richards, citing a list of 17 permit requirements he claims are unrealistic. "They make us these rules that aren't enforceable and aren't good for business. They're just winging it, and they won't say who are making these rules up or who decides on them. It's frustrating for sure."

The introduction of the SARA in 2004 made it illegal to possess body parts of threatened species, including the shell of an Abalone, but made no differentiation between wild and hatchery stocks.

Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan gave BHCAP an exemption permit to allow sales of cultured Abalone, and 17 requirements were added to the permit by DFO staff.

Most of the regulations revolv e around the permit which must be signed bya number of people, and who takes the pink, white, canary, and goldenrod coloured permit copies once the abalone reaches the restaurant. Also, the truck driver must be in contact with various fisheries offices wherever the abalone goes.

"It's probably easier to move weapons grade plutonium than abalone," Richards joked. "We've had to pass up a number of sales opportunities because of the restrictions, and in the meantime we've had to lay off three staff members and shift into maintenance mode,
he said.

BHCAP was founded six years ago on the agreement they would be able to sell hatchery-raised abalone to offset costs of stock rehabilitation effort. They have already released more than 4 million larvae and 150,000 juveniles into Barkley Sound.

BHCAP currently has a 60 day license to sell 1500 abalone, but their time is running out. "This process is frustrating and slow," said Richards. "We've got a great program here and a great plan. Something needs to be done to improve processes within DFO."

"DFO is trying very hard to allow BHCAP to sell some of their Abalone, and right now that's the only way we have to get those Abalone to market, said DFO resource management biologist Laurie Convey. "The list of conditions are not onerous and are not inconsistent with other valuable species. We're planning to ask COSEWIC (Committee on the State of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) for a distinction between wild and cultured Abalone, but that will unfortunately take time," she said.

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