Dan Edwards is a third generation fisherman on Canada's west coast. For 30 years Edwards was an owner, operator, and skipper on troll and longline vessels for salmon, halibut, dogfish, and other small boat fisheries. From 1994 to 2000, Edwards was the Executive Director of the West Coast Sustainability Association, a native and non-native non-profit association promoting sustainable fisheries for the small fisheries dependent communities of the west coast of Vancouver Island. The main project of the WCSA was the establishment of an area based Aquatic Management Board as an alternative management process to the proliferation of industry government partnerships as exemplified in most Individual Transferable Quota processes.

Presently Edwards represents the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union in groundfish process in B.C. and is a sitting member of a groundfish integration process in British Columbia representing hook and line dogfish fishermen.

After participating in Alaska's Halibut IFQ fishery since its inception, I believe that there are two elements essential to all IFQ programs: Quota shares must be capped to prevent over-consolidation and quota access must be restricted to people historically involved in commercial fishing.

Pete Hendrickson
Dutch Harbor Alaska
Fisherman and Longshoreman
Alaska Marine Conservation Council (AMCC) Board of Directors

Ten years of work experience on fishing tender vessels has given me an innate understanding of the commercial fishing industry. I have lived at sea for extended periods and have traveled extensively, both in the US and abroad. I have spent the past six months working with fishermen from Washington, assisting them with direct market sales of their own catch. IFQs and the consolidation of resources they create could threaten the way of life for these independent fishermen who choose to make a living on their own rather than working within the traditional larger structure surrounding processor plants.

Amy Grondin
Pacific Marine Conservation Council

The recent gift of exclusive processing rights for the bulk of our nation’s Bering Sea crab fishery to a handful of largely foreign owned corporations illustrates the need for Congress to establish clear, enforceable standards for any future IFQ programs. Processor quotas address neither conservation nor safety issues yet were crammed though by force of money. Congress must ensure that such greed-driven abominations must never become part of our nation’s fisheries quota systems.

Bob Storrs
Vice President of Unalaska Native Fishermen Association
Fishermen for over 30 years in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska for halibut, cod, herring, and crab.