UPDATE ON FISHERIES AND OCEANS ISSUES FROM THE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000983

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR OES/OA, OES/OMC, AND WHA/CAN
NOAA FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND NMFS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIS SENV CA
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON FISHERIES AND OCEANS ISSUES FROM THE
DEPUTY MINISTER



1. (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.


2. (SBU) Summary: Charge and ESTOFFS paid a courtesy call
April 1 on Department of Fisheries and Oceans Deputy Minister
Larry Murray, who reviewed a range of bilateral fisheries and
oceans issues. Among the topics discussed were U.S.
participation in NAFO and our request for an allocation of
Yellowtail Flounder, ocean policy talks, Canada's upcoming
high seas conference, the Tulsequah Chief Mine, Machias Seal
Island, and the 2005 Atlantic seal hunt. End Summary.

NAFO/YELLOWTAIL FLOUNDER
--------------


3. (SBU) Murray commented that Canada welcomes a continued
strong U.S. role in NAFO, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
Organization. The GOC, he said, is continuing to look for
ways to accommodate the long-standing U.S. request for an
allocation of Yellowtail Flounder (YT) in the NAFO regulatory
area. He noted that Canada had previously offered 500 metric
tons of YT to U.S. fishers, on condition that the fish be
processed at Canadian plants, while the U.S. has requested
1000 metric tons to be landed in Nova Scotia and shipped
overland to New England for processing. Murray added that
the GOC is under great pressure from the Canadian fishing
industry not to give up any allocations, although he
acknowledged that scientific assessments confirm that the YT
stock is healthy and growing. Nevertheless, Murray said that
an Ecological Assessment may be necessary if any licenses or
allocations are transferred. Another option, Murray said,
may be to transfer an allocation of whiting to U.S. fishers.
The upcoming U.S.-Canada fisheries bilats in July will
provide an opportunity to discuss this matter further, Murray
suggested.

OCEANS POLICY TALKS
--------------


4. (SBU) Murray noted that Admiral James D. Watkins (ret.)
was coming to Ottawa on April 12 for an unofficial briefing
on the report prepared by the U.S. Commission on Ocean
Policy. Murray said he had agreed to meet with NOAA
Administrator Lautenbacher to move to
government-to-government talks after that, either in
Washington or Ottawa. Given the specific mention of oceans
policy in the Security and Prosperity Partnership, Murray
said it would be useful to schedule meetings fairly quickly
after the Watkins visit.

HIGH SEAS CONFERENCE
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5. (SBU) Murray said there has been great interest in the
GOC's plans for a conference on high seas fishing, to be held
in May in St. John's, Newfoundland. He said the GOC is
currently working on a draft declaration, which will be used
to launch the conference. The conference itself, he said,
will produce a final report that will address a strategy for
controlling overfishing on the high seas.

TULSEQUAH CHIEF MINE
--------------


6. (SBU) Regarding plans by the Canadian mining company Red
Fern to build a road and re-open a mine in the Taku River
basin, which could impact on an Alaskan salmon fishery,
Murray said the DFO review process would probably be
completed in a few weeks. He offered to give Emboffs advance
notice of how it would come out. Murray noted that it was
unlikely DFO would change the outcome of a permitting process
that took 10 years the first time around. He said he
understood the concerns of Alaskan and First Nations
opponents, but thought the proposed changes in the road would
not warrant reversing the mine project.

MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND
--------------


7. (SBU) Murray said that the effort to get lobster
fishermen to resolve their differences in the disputed area
is not working, and asked if there was some forum to discuss
the practical fisheries management issues between the
governments. He said that this approach would allow the
governments to come up with a plan to avoid lost fishing
gear, minimize the prospect of violence, and manage the
resource.

2005 ATLANTIC SEAL HUNT
--------------

8. (SBU) This year's hunt, Murray said, is off to a slow
start because of ice conditions. Murray portrayed DFO as
occupying a middle ground, in-between animal rights activists
opposed to the hunt and fishermen who want to increase the
number of seals taken annually. He said the hunt is
scientifically justifiable and sustainable as long as the
populations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence stay above 3.8
million individuals. Currently, he said, there are about 5
million seals in the Gulf. This year's total allowable
catch, the final year of a three year plan, is set at 319,000
seals. Murray said that next season the GOC will implement a
new, five-year plan. Murray noted that the seal skins are
marketed mainly in Scandinavia, Russia and China, and that
DFO is committed to full utilization of the pelts. He
acknowledged that only about 30 percent of the animal
carcasses are processed for meat and blubber, citing the high
cost of quickly getting the skinned seals from remote ice
floes to processing plants.

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DICKSON