Put the Fishery on the Political Agenda
There hasn’t been much talk during the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial election about expanding jobs in the fishery.
Including such topics as limiting the concentration of enterprises and quotas in corporate or individual fishers’ hands, while making it so difficult for aspiring entrants to take over an existing enterprise, thus adding nail after nail to the coffin of fishing villages.
As far as I know, in Prince Edward Island, there is no equivalent of the Professional Fish ...
Will 2021 Hold More Cetacean-Related Closures and Concerns?
If you pay a visit to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) website, a few clicks will bring you to a page with no less than 87 fishery notices related to North Atlantic right whales — all for the year 2020.
These notices involved whale-related delays, interruptions and closures/re-openings for various fisheries throughout the Maritimes.
According to DFO, acoustic detections of whales by hydrophones (underwater microphones) and visual sightings of right whales from vessels and ...
Eat More Local Seafood
“Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.” — Samuel Pepys: 17th century administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament.
Being a navy officer, Pepys probably consumed his fair share of seafood back in his day and it probably tasted a lot better than some of the gruel being served below decks. Jump ahead nearly four centuries, to the eve of the 2020 holiday season and efforts are being made to ensure more people are acquiring a taste for seafood ...
Averting Future Species Collapses
In this 24-hour news cycle, social media-obsessed world, all industries have their buzzwords.
A quick look at Twitter will instantly tell you what words are trending at that very moment in time.
Buzzwords surrounding today’s modern fishery now include such terms as sustainability, ecofriendly, ecolabelling, chain of custody and traceability, to name a few.
However, if you venture back in time a few decades, prior to the onslaught of Facebook and YouTube, one will discover that the ...
Despite Uncertainties, Signs Point to a Good Holiday and Lent Season for Seafood
After seven months of struggling to keep businesses going during the pandemic, it seems we are in a bit of a lull.
No end is in sight, but things are not getting dramatically better either. The bounce back we experienced both in terms of sales demand and restaurant demand in June and July appears to be fading.
In mid-September, we were simply facing a huge number of uncertainties. They included the election in seven weeks, a potential stall in job creation and employment this fall with ...
Close to Home
Coast Guard Investments Bringing More than Just Safety to Coastal Communities
Canada has one of the most effective search and rescue (SAR) systems in the world.
The Canadian Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary respond to about 13 search and rescue calls, assisting 43 people and saving 13 lives a day across the country.
The Canadian Coast Guard is responsible for maritime SAR, including the coordination, control and conduct of SAR operations in addition to prevention ...
Dialogue, Cooperation and Trust
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth.
As the Babe so succinctly pointed out, there can be little or no success without cooperation. This not-so-startling revelation can of course be applied to any industry, including the fishery.
Another pearl of wisdom on cooperation comes from a man many might consider the Babe Ruth ...
Reflections on More Than 40 Years in the Industry
This will be my last column in The Navigator.
I am retiring from the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI) at the end of September.
In one way or another, I have been involved in the capture fishery for over 40 years. For my final column, I will reflect on events in the industry during that time.
Opportunity
As I consider what has happened over the past 40 plus years, the first word that springs to mind is opportunity. Although that may surprise some people, the fact is we ...
A Tale of Two Fishery Officers
Garnet Blake and Leon Hancock are both fishery officers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
But the most powerful thing they have in common is the love and pride they have for their jobs. They also both believe Labrador, although they live in different parts, is the best place in the world to live.
Blake is from Goose Bay and moved to Nain 12 years ago. He intended to stay for one year, but he never left. He’s been with DFO for 19 years now, drawn by a life outdoors and the freedom ...
Be Careful What You Ask For
There is an old saying that comes in many different variations.
A common one is, “Be careful what you ask for, because you may get it in greater measure than you expect.” It is a warning that what you ask for may not actually be good for you.
The origins of that idea go back at least to the book of Elijah in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is also in Aesop’s Fables, the world’s best-known collection of morality tales, dated to around 260 B.C.
But Elijah and Aesop likely just ...
