The Crisis of Our Lifetime
I grew up in the schooner days when cod was king, after being absent for a while.
I returned to the fishery in 1976 and cod was still king. In reference to cod, it was called fish and is still today by the people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
The year 1990 was a disastrous time — we lost our cod and turbot after long years of fishing on the spawning grounds by Canadian and foreign draggers. In the winter of 1991, the Canadian draggers went to the Grand Banks looking for cod and ...
PM Should Honour his Father’s Fish Promise
A provincial fishery advocacy group, the Fishery Community Alliance (FCA), is calling upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to honour a commitment made by his father in 1971, as a way to help protect and rebuild depleted fish stocks off Newfoundland and Labrador that belong to the Canadian people.
I was part of a team of fishery advocates from 14 groups, the Save Our Fishery Association (SOFA), which undertook a mission to Ottawa in October 1971, to highlight the politically motivated decisions ...
Long on Fish Tales, Short on Facts
Cooper Institute Distorts the Story in P.E.I.’s Lobster Industry
As advocates for Prince Edward Island’s seafood processors, we feel compelled to respond to the recently released Safe at Work, Unsafe at Home: COVID-19 and Temporary Foreign Workers in Prince Edward Island by the Charlottetown-based Cooper Institute.
Its authors used questionable methodology to promote simplistic solutions and to disparage the reputation of our members.
Over the last decade, acute labour ...
Will Seals Decide the Future of Rural N.L.?
The recorded number of harp seals in the North Atlantic, up to 1982, was 2.2 million.
At that time, with the implementation of the 200-mile-limit, the inshore fishery had rebounded somewhat and fishermen were making a living, rural Newfoundland and Labrador was doing very well. Many fishermen were making a living off lobster, herring, squid and salmon, fishing out of an 18-foot boat.
Enter the bleeding hearts and movie stars who decided to make a name for themselves by interfering with ...
A Very Sordid Fish Tale
Grab a seat and I will share with you a fishy tale that haunts our shores.
To begin with, Newfoundland and Labrador was once a major fish exporting nation. In fact, when we joined Confederation in 1949, our abundant fish resource elevated Canada from 14th place in the world as a fish-exporting nation to 6th.
Today, we have hit rock bottom when it comes to the fishery. Canada has not rebuilt our fish resource, despite approaching 30 years after a devastating groundfish moratorium.
We ...
SFA 6 Shrimp TAC Needs to be Revisited
Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Bernadette Jordan on May 25, 2021.
I write regarding the recent decision by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to institute a year-over-year limit of 15 per cent on increases to the total allowable catch (TAC) in shrimp fishing area (SFA) 6 off southern Labrador and northeastern Newfoundland.
There is no mention in DFO’s Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) for Northern shrimp of such a year-ove...
Regulations on Who Can Fish Need to Change
Most people have the impression and understandably so, that it is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) that controls who gets to go commercial fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Actually, it is the Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board (PFHCB) — with rules enacted in legislation by the provincial government.
In that regard, I would like to use the medium of your magazine to suggest to the Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Fisheries to take a look at current ...
A Good Luck Story
On Tuesday, March 2, 2021, a mayday was sent out from the M.V. Atlantic Destiny, with a crew of 32 on board, that the vessel was on fire.
As any mariner knows, fire is the worst thing that can happen at sea. Sometimes it doesn’t give you time to get your life jackets or survival suits on, or get a lifeboat launched. Add eight-metre seas (24 feet) and 55 knot winds (100 km/h) and you are in the worst possible situation anyone on the water can imagine.
These past 12 months have seen a lot ...
Capelin Fishery “Pause” Not Necessary
Seafood producers (harvesters and processors) respect and value the work of the researchers and scientists at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who play an essential role in keeping our fisheries sustainable.
However, in capelin and many other fisheries, a present state of alarmism simply overrides harvesters and processors’ input, dismissing generations’ worth of lived experience.
Last year, capelin was a very small fishery of 16,000 tonnes. Activists argue with apparent moral certainty ...
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 ...
