Pal arose during the 1970s to
jn mine the organizational unity

Ishermen, shoreworkers and
Sldermen. Encouraged by
Heyument and wrongly believing
a Could gain a competitive ad-

lage by organizing along gear
ses, some fishermen formed
oh ter groups or gear associations

ch quickly became co-opted by
* companies.

natese divisions were even more
, Ounced in the wider arena of
Clal resource management.
© short-term interests of lumber
aikers were pitted against those
b, lshing industry workers as logg-
i.cOmMpanies destroyed fish
tat. Recreational fishermen
fy Played against commercial
hishe ee and corporate interests
3 t to aggravate tensions bet-
fh din these two groups and B.C.’s
“20 people; who were asserting
iso aboriginal title to marine
Urces,

o|
mite Prospect of a strong, stable
die industry producing food
‘ Jobs for Canadians is slipping
ugh our fingers. After.
lnweting superprofits for the
Ay Snationals, we have nothing to
,.” for the exploitation of our
pptce but closed-up plants, dy-
3 ommunities, declining stocks
f 4 processing sector concen-
In ownership as never

! Government and big business
i Owledge the crisis and blame it
bes workers. The cost of
»_ “Sting, they argue, is too high.
he ‘ig business program to save
4. dustry, as detailed in the
sai Teport, is nothing more than
luge’ for its destruction. The in-
tone will be rationalized to suit
lo poly, to the point of elimina-

lf necessary. The long-term
hoe Is the implementation of
an ranching — the private
lay Sement, enhancement and
‘or Of stocks for profit. Giant,
yijpotate-owned fish hatcheries
inj UMP out millions of fish. The
lapyclly-enhanced fish will be
‘lin Sted by traps at river mouths,
a onating fishermen, reducing
he frosts and maximizing profits.
eq lshing fleet will be mercilessly
lipeced, then eliminated
i. ner Habitat protection will
‘,, edoned. A handful of huge

ants will remain.

Our tasks:
produce food

for Canadians,

produce jobs,
produce food
for export

he people of B.C. need a pro-

gram to save the fishing in-
dustry and lay a basis for the
future. The corporate drive for
profits on three fronts is
decimating the resource. Monopo-
ly exploitation of the stocks
threatens their survival. Interna-
tional agreements sell out our
resources. Environmental
degradation is eliminating the
possibility of their restoration. On-
ly a program that breaks monopoly
power can save the industry by en-
ding a system that puts profits
ahead of people, communities,
jobs, the environment and our
sovereignty. The main role in this
struggle falls to working people:
their interests are most at stake and
they have the most powerful means
of organization.

The fight to put the fishing in-

dustry under public control can on-
ly be won, however, if all groups
related to the industry unite around
a democratic, anti-monopoly pro-
gram.
Canadians will never enjoy the
wealth our seas produce while pro-
cessing and marketing remain in
private hands. Monopolization of
processing is virtually complete.
Rational exploitation of stocks, in
contrast to exploitation for profit,
can only occur when the entire in-
dustry is subject to democratic con-
trol. The first priority is production
of affordable fish for Canadian
consumption. The second task is
creation of stable employment in
the industry. The third is produc-
tion of fish for export markets.

What do we mean by democratic
control? We mean nationalization
of the processing sector. We mean
that development of the industry

and measures to protect it will pro-
ceed only with the approval and at
the direction of the communities,
trade unions, Indian people and
other groups directly affected. The
first step on the way forward is im-
mediate action to safeguard the
resource itself. It is around the pro-
tection of fish habitat and the plan-
ned development of natural
resources that the main fightback
needs to focus at this time.

This means fighting for planned
resource development which
dovetails Canada’s fisheries with
the long-term national interest,
specifically:

e@ Immediate strengthening of
environmental. protection laws,
vigilant inspection and strict en-
forcement combined with a
massive clean-up campaign to
restore natural fish production
potential.

@ Subjection of all
developments affecting fish habitat
to a “no impact’’ standard and
creation of marine and watershed
reserves in particularly sensitive
areas in which industrial develop-
ment is banned.

The subordination of Canada’s
fisheries interests to foreign policy
considerations must end. Protec-
tion of the fisheries must become a
priority in our foreign policy.
Specifically, we must:

@ Negotiate salmon intercep-
tion agreements with the United
States based on equality;

@ Maximize our maritime
boundary claims and begin im-
mediate enforcement of our max-
imum claim; and

@ Demand inclusion of the
Soviet Union and other Pacific na-
tions in the International North
Pacific Fisheries Treaty to
guarantee scientific management
of stocks of common concern.

To achieve these goals, we must:

@ Nationalize the monopoly-
owned processing and marketing
sectors to ensure public control and
to recapture the profits where they
are greatest;

@ Eliminate foreign fleets from
our waters and require that fish
harvested in Canada be processed
domestically up to the point it is
ready for retail sale;

@ Develop a_publicly-funded
research program into all aspects of
fish management and conserva-
tion; and

@ Provide marketing and
financial assistance for co-
operatives and non-monopol
Canadian-owned enterprises under
the direction of the public sector to
integrate them into the industry ina
way compatible with the overall
goal of job creation and public
management.

Such reforms are impossible
without a complete restructuring of
the federal fisheries department to
break its subervience to private
capital and make it sensitive to the
needs of working people in the in-
dustry. The department’s mandate
must be to manage first for conser-
vation, secondly for production for
domestic use and thirdly with a
view to job creation.

Specifically, reforms should
include creation of a licensing pro-
gram in which the fishing privilege
rests with the state to be used by
fishermen according to a
democratically-regulated limita-
tion scheme. The traditional
methods of fishing must be main-
tained. The emphasis must be on
the employment of bonafide
fishermen in year-round fishing ac-
tivity that guarantees a reasonable
return.

Working
people must
organize,
above all in
the labor
movement

he rescue of the industry can-

not be achieved unless the most
directly-affected people are
organized. A program to save the
industry and put it under
democratic control can succeed on-
ly if working people’s -organiza-
tions are strong. In B.C., this
means greater effort to build one
strong industrial union of all in-
dustry workers, regardless of sex,
race or creed, work that was in-
itiated by the founders of the