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Muse, Ben. 1999.
"Fleet Reduction in British Columbia's Commercial Salmon Fisheries: 1996-1998."
CFEC Rpt 99-2N. March, 1999. 38 pp.
Abstract:
In 1996 Canada implemented the Mifflin Plan, which was designed to reduce the size of the commercial
salmon fleet in British Columbia. The Mifflin Plan redefined limited entry licenses with respect to
fishing area and gear, allowed stacking of the salmon licenses, and spent C$80 million to purchase
and retire the licenses (but not vessels). In 1998 Canada implemented another program to purchase
and retire limited entry salmon licenses (but not vessels). Funding for these programs was provided
by the federal government. This paper describes and discusses these programs. Details are provided
on the reasons for the fleet reduction programs, the details of the license redefinition and stacking
rules, the rules used to decide which licenses to buy and the prices to pay for them, and the numbers
of licenses removed from the fishery. A discussion section reviews some issues raised by these programs.