Editor:
Coming back from a recent boat trip up the B.C. coast, I came back to White Rock to set my crab trap.
The commercial crab season had opened while I was away, and I was appalled to see the number of traps extending from Boundary Bay to the Peace Arch.
The fishermen all jockey to have their traps as close to the U.S. border, as the crabs make their way in from deeper water. They are at least 10 deep, and it makes it very difficult to navigate a boat through them in daylight; at night you would very likely get your propeller compromised.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada regulations require that fishermen make navigation available, but they have not and the DFO has not enforced the problem.
On speaking with Fisheries, they advised that there are 20 licences issued in this area, Crab Area J, and each licence has 180 traps. That means there are 3,600 traps, plus the native fishermen traps, which would put that number beyond 4,000 extending from the Peace Arch to Boundary Bay.
In my opinion, the amount of traps allowed is obscene, and it has made the bay unsafe for navigation.
Barry Kerfoot, White Rock