Welcome to the Website of the Commercial Industry Caucus

Formed in 2004 in response to directives from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Commercial Industry Caucus (CIC) is a consensus-based stakeholder group representing the seven sectors of the Pacific groundfish fishery—Dogfish, Halibut, Lingcod, Rockfish (Inside and Outside), Sablefish, and Trawl  as well as the processing sector. Non-sectoral participants from DFO’s Groundfish Management Unit and representatives from the British Columbia Ministry of Environment also participate in CIC meetings.

Industry representatives to the CIC are elected through sectoral DFO advisory boards, GHLAC, SAC, HAB, and GTAC. Together they work to provide advice to DFO concerning the needs and interests of the commercial integrated groundfish fishery.

The CIC crafted the “Commercial Groundfish Integrated Pilot Proposal” in 2005 which embraced individual vessel allocations and 100% dockside and at sea monitoring for all fleets. This has been able to ensure:

• Accurate reporting of all catch, including at-sea releases, by species and area;
• Proper stock management within scientifically determined sustainable harvest levels
• Responsible fishing through administrative penalties for exceeding vessel allocation
• Greater incentives to fish selectively and minimize at-sea releases
• Safer fishing practices

With the achievement of all sustainable management objectives sought by DFO and the improvement of groundfish stock management overall, this program has given Canada a reputation as a world leader in responsible fisheries management.

If you would like to access public CIC documents, ask a question, raise a concern or otherwise give input to the CIC table, please use the virtual office log-in at the top right of this page; enter the following email and password:

                      Email: public@cic.ca

                      Password: cicpublic

If you don't find what you're looking on the Public Office site, please contact the CIC directly at the following email:

info@commercial-industry-caucus.ca

Virtual Office Login