By Phil Barnes
Smallwood & Resettlement (Between a Rock and a Hard Place)
When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, Premier Joey Smallwood was determined to modernize Canada’s youngest province, or, as he once said… “We’ll drag Newfoundlanders kicking and screaming into the twentieth century if we have to.” His plan was to diversify the economy and provide public services such as better schools, hospitals, better communication and transportation. This would be accomplished by moving people from remote out-port communities, especially isolated ones like Fogo Island to more centralized hubs. There would be an official resettlement program. Families would be offered a small amount of money to move. Between 1965 and 1972, approximately 4,000 homes and 20,000 people were moved. Plans were already on the way to resettle Fogo Island as moving barges were constructed and wharfs built to accommodate the move to Carmanville. Merchants were shutting down their fish business on Fogo Island and the fishery was failing, so it seemed that Smallwood’s call to resettle Fogo Island would now come easy… but it wasn’t to be.
Despite enormous pressure from Smallwood’s government, the people of Fogo Island dug in their heels… they were determined to stay. At the same time, a crew from the extension department of Memorial University of Newfoundland and representatives of the National Film Board’s “Challenge for Change” program came to Fogo Island and began a unique experiment. They filmed the people of Fogo Island in their communities and their struggles and played it back to other communities on the island and also to the government. This became known as “The Fogo Process.”
The Fogo Process
“The Fogo Process” was centred around the people of Fogo Island and their communities. By using simple media tools, communities and individuals came to grips with their problems, opportunities and visions on film. The Fogo Process provided a model of communication for development practice that was far ahead of its time. Indeed, in some circles it is recognized that a world of debt is owed to the Fogo Process for their participation in the films that would shape the cooperative movement the world over.
Donald Snowden was director of Memorial Universities Extension Department in Newfoundland and he led that process. Government policies and actions were changed because of these films and the people of Fogo Island began to organize as they searched for answers as to the why and the means to make it work if they should stay on the island. The rest was history.
The Co-op is Born
Out of this process of self discovery emerged the Fogo Island Cooperative Society… “In 1967, the people of Fogo Island had to make a life-altering decision… Leave their beloved island home and resettle on the mainland of Newfoundland and Labrador, or stay and find a way to make it on their own. They stayed, and they made it work as is evident in this their 50th year in business. To ensure their survival, they turned to what they knew best for hundreds of years — the sea. Following a process of community self-discovery now known worldwide as the Fogo Process, and with the aid of the Fogo Island Improvement Committee and MUN extension services, fishers on the island united and formed the Fogo Island Shipbuilders and Producers Co-op later to be renamed the Fogo Island Co-operative Society Ltd., a community based enterprise on which they built the economy of their island. They built more and bigger boats. They took over processing facilities abandoned by private enterprises. They built more plants. They sought new markets and the Fogo Island Co-op has not only survived, it has succeeded in times when the odds were stacked against them. This is a tremendous testament to the will of a people… the people of Fogo Island and its founding fathers (Stan Kinden, Don Best and Dick Dawe) the real pioneers and driving force behind the Co-op. Those people along with Fred Earl, Don Snowden and Colin Low were instrumental in the survival of Fogo Island and for that we owe them an enormous debt today.
Early Beginnings
At its very first meeting in 1967, a board was elected to run the affairs of the Co-op. The board members consisted of Stan Kinden, President, Don Best, Vice President, James R. Decker, Secretary. Hector Eveleigh, John L. Shepard, Roland Leyte, Kitchener Collins, Alexander Cull and Cyril Foley made up the other board members. Dan Roberts was hired as the first General Manager.
The first thirty years wasn’t rosy as the Co-op faced many challenges and hardships in a fishery under much scrutiny. They weathered the collapse of the salt fish market, the cod moratorium in the early 90’s and coming to near bankruptcy a number of times but rising from the ashes to reinvent themselves over and over again, year after year, after the groundfish collapsed evolving into a predominantly shellfish company. The fishery has always had its ups and downs, but on Fogo Island things were much harder as isolation did not help its cause. Although times were tough, they stood firm and fast through it all.
The Co-op Today
Today, the Fogo Island Co-op has grown to be a major player in the Newfoundland fishery where independent fishers as members of the Co-op sell their catch to three processing plants located in Fogo, Joe Batt’s Arm and Seldom, whose workers are also members of the Co-op. The company has a laboratory, welding shop and a marine service centre complete with a fishing supplies outlet. Their head office is located in Seldom where its staff are also members of the Co-op. They supply snow crab, shrimp, turbot, cod, herring, capelin, mackerel, scallops and sea cucumber to global markets, in particular the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, Denmark and the UK. They have developed a rock-solid reputation for honesty, integrity, pride in performance and world-class quality.
The Board today, 50 years later, consists of Perry Collins, President, Mary Finn, Vice President, George Jacobs Jr., Secretary. Austin Reid, Gus Foley, Aidan Penton, Rod Budden, John Humphries, Mark Penton, Aubrey Payne and Travis Jacobs are the other board members.
Looking Ahead
The fishery is changing again as we move away from a shellfish dominated fishery back to a groundfish fishery and the Co-op continues to change with it by looking ahead to find solutions to the many challenges it faces. Demographics (the aging population) is certainly against us… the clock is ticking as people, both fishers and plant workers, retire from the industry with no one coming behind to fill their shoes. Bit by bit, our fish resources are eroding because of two reasons: retiring fishers who are selling off their enterprises and quota cuts of shellfish as we face the reality of environmental issues. Another problem is that more and more of our fish resources are going offshore, so our rural communities are in a terrible crisis. We will not survive if someone does not intervene. Our timeline is short. No one or very few has offered solutions to any of these issues. How much fish will we the inshore have to catch? Who will catch it? Who will process it? These are answers we need today not tomorrow. If rural Newfoundland is important then we need to act now to save it. We need an immigration policy that works for rural Newfoundland. There will not be another opportunity like Fogo Island had in the sixties, so maybe Joey will finally get his way as we are all forced to more urban centres.
There are some positives if we have people to fish the resource and people to work in our plants. Groundfish is making a comeback after all those years of moratorium… but are we ready? On Fogo Island we are poised like never before to take advantage of the cod that’s returning to our shores. We are positioning ourselves to be a front runner. “Here on Fogo Island we have the best quality cod on the planet,” and “We are marketing it that way.” “The Co-op has always had a reputation of quality seafood and staying true to who you are is all that matters.” “The ability to re-invent ourselves is so important especially in an industry like ours… that’s one of the most important things we are doing in my mind.”
A New Beginning — Fogo Island Economic Development Partnership
In July 2015, an historic event took place on Fogo Island… the formation of the Fogo Island Economic Development Partnership between the Town of Fogo Island, the Shorefast Foundation and the Fogo Island Co-op whose mandate is to stimulate growth on the island. We feel this is a vital step forward in helping preserve our place while remaining focused on the future. “Fogo Island is on the map. You can Google it and it pops up everywhere.” This is in large to do with what Zita Cobb has done with the Shorefast Foundation and the new Inn making Fogo Island an attractive destination to the world.
Acknowledgements
In closing, a great big thank you goes out to our first board of Directors as well as to all members who have served on our board over our 50 years in business.
Thank you to so many other key people over the years who have played major roles in the development of the Co-op in one way or another to shape our destiny, in particular Ken Budden in Marketing and Sales and Elaine Dawe our Financial Controller — both with over 40 years experience in their respective fields. To our current management team, too many to name here who are instrumental in the day to day running of our business… thank you. To all our employees who work our production lines on their feet day in and day out, thank you. To all our fishers who never waivered and supported our business over the 50 years we will be forever grateful… thank you. General Managers such as Eugene Collins, Hugie St. Croix and Peter Kean all brought the Co-op through some pretty trying times, so our hat goes off to those people instrumental in paving the way.
Thank you to our partners in business… Orion Seafoods led by Charles Anastasia who helped us to establish our crab business in Japan, being one of the first companies to produce Raw Leg to niche markets. To Susan Yen of Pescadores Products who has stuck by our side and helping us to establish our business in China. We are grateful for our partners in Denmark, Northcoast Seafoods a division of Kangamiut Seafoods who built our shrimp business in Europe… thank you so much for your continued support. To all our other buyers across the globe thank you for believing in us and supporting our business for 50 years.
