Dear editor,

I was surprised to see a well-read and respectable paper such as the Record giving banner headlines and thus a measure of credence to a poorly thought out and blatantly obvious attempt at legalized theft.

Perhaps you would accord me a similar favour.

Commercial halibut fishermen were fishing this species and many others long before the sporties started catching any noticeable amount, and they are fully committed to sustainable yield and support the international halibut commission鈥檚 quotas.

In the past, the DFO would announce a yearly quota and an opening and then a huge effort would ensue for fishermen to 鈥済et their share鈥� come whatever, weather and storms be damned.

The result of this shotgun fishery was loss of income, boats and lives. It鈥檚 too bad we can鈥檛 ask the halibut fisherman, whose skull and bones I picked up on Banks Island, what halibut are worth. His widow would know the cost.

Now the halibut fishery and many others in Canada and around the world are going to various quota systems. The commercial fisherman now becomes, even more, his industry鈥檚 monitor, supporter and protector.

The halibut quota system is based on historical catch. This can be bought and sold. If one halibut fisherman wants more quota, he can buy, sell or lease it from another.

Now, instead of a five-day annual shotgun fishery which was mostly frozen, we have a year-round fishery sold fresh at triple the former price and fishermen don鈥檛 have to die in foul weather.

Unlike overpaid civil servants, fishermen don鈥檛 take money from the taxpayer for their generous pensions. Fishermen鈥檚 pensions are, in effect, now their quotas. This pension, Mr. Ray Haines of Comox, now proposes to steal from honest, hardworking, taxpaying fishermen!

A quota system will not work (remember abalone) without monitoring and validation by a third disinterested party, which, incidentally, is paid for entirely by the fishermen.

All commercial halibut are weighed and validated at the dock and credited against a quota. I wonder how many sport fishermen declare all their catch?

Most Canadians are fair and honest people. If sporties want more quota, it is readily obtainable; all they have to do is buy it at fair market value from those whose blood, sweat and tears have earned it over these many years. George Dennis,

Comox