The provincial government is on the brink of signing an interim land claims treaty that will give Nanaimo aboriginals exclusive fishing rights, a decision that is sure to spark controversy from those who depend on the fishery.

Details about the location and size of the natives' fishing area won't be known until the agreement is signed.

In a significant policy departure for the B.C. Liberals, who traditionally opposed race-based fisheries, Attorney General Geoff Plant said the Nanaimo band is one of six that has been offered its own commercial fishing entitlement as part of land claim treaties.

In the past, B.C. Liberals have condemned aboriginal-only fisheries as "morally, ethically and legally wrong."

But Plant, who heads the B.C. treaty negotiations, said in an interview that the previous NDP government agreed to put aboriginal fishing rights on the negotiating table. The current Liberal government has no choice but to allow the race-based fishing provisions to remain.

"We think there may be little choice but to acknowledge that the offers that were made continue to be on the table," Plant said. "We have been party to no new fish offers since the election."

He cited case law that suggests the provincial or federal government could face court action if they withdrew substantial elements from the treaty table without adequate substitution.

Plant said the provincial government remains opposed to separate fisheries but has no choice but to push toward settlements that would allow aboriginal-only commercial fishing.

"Government's hands are tied," Plant said, admitting the issue will be widely controversial.

The decision to keep fishing issues on the negotiation table in the six regions has infuriated non-native commercial fishermen, who call it a betrayal.

Phil Eidsvik of the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition called the provincial decision to allow aboriginal-only fisheries a political flip-flop and a slap in the face to commercial fishermen. The coalition is a group of commercial fishermen who believe there should be one fishery with one set of rules for all Canadians.

"In all of my time in the fishing industry and all of my family's time in the fishing industry, it's the biggest betrayal of a promise in our history," Eidsvik said.

"We don't think this fight is over. We expect that (Premier Gordon) Campbell will still keep his promise but it's a pretty black day."

In 1997, Campbell, who was then the Liberal opposition leader, condemned Ottawa for allowing aboriginal fishermen on the Lower Fraser and in Port Alberni to operate commercial fisheries as part of a pilot project.

"These fisheries are morally, ethically and legally wrong," Campbell said in a 1997 press release. "The Department of Fisheries has a big enough job managing one commercial fishery. Trying to manage two separate fisheries is putting the resource at risk."

At the time, Campbell said separate aboriginal fisheries would undermine fish stocks and undercut commercial fishermen.

The six fisheries are proposed for the Snuneymuxw First Nation in Nanaimo, the Tsawwassen, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council in Port Alberni, the Sliammon First Nation in Powell River, the Lheidli-T'enneh band of Prince George and the Gitanyow band northwest of Smithers.

The province says the Nanaimo band could be weeks away from signing an agreement in principle, followed later this year by the Gitanyow band.

In an interview Wednesday, Eidsvik said it is deceitful for the government to blame the previous government for putting the fish issue on the table.

"The premier himself said it was morally and ethically wrong. You don't break a commitment like that unless absolutely forced by the courts."

Eidsvik said that giving six native groups their own fisheries will only exacerbate tensions between commercial, sport and aboriginal fishermen.

In 1992, the federal government introduced specific regulations allowing two native commercial fisheries in B.C., one on the Lower Fraser River and the other in Port Alberni.

Those fisheries, called pilot projects, have been the subject of repeated controversy, protest and legal action.

The B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition is challenging in B.C. provincial court the validity of race-based fisheries, claiming they are illegal because they treat Canadians unequally.

The case, which has already consumed four weeks of trial time, will resume this spring for another three weeks.