The Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) has taken issue with what it calls the sudden move by Transport Canada to come down like a hammer on inshore fishermen who’ve had fishing vessels modified or cut in length without advance approval.
“Fishermen have been told for years by officials with Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans and their own union that they didn’t need architectural drawings or advance approval to modify or cut a vessel to fish in the under 40-foot fleet,” says Ryan Cleary, Interim Executive Director of SEA-NL.
“Now the same fishermen are being told they will be locked up and/or slapped with million-dollar fines if they didn’t do what they were told they didn’t have to do,” added Cleary. “Sounds to me like grounds for a class-action lawsuit.”
Transport Canada officials say the owners of fishing vessels that have undergone major modifications to cut their overall length to under 40 feet — without having architectural plans (which can cost up to $30,000) approved in advance by the department — could face fines of up to $1 million and/or 18 months in jail, SEA-NL said in a press release.
“The tie-ups, inspections and possible further modifications could also cost fishermen untold tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, inshore harvesters in this province say it was never their understanding that their plans needed pre-approval. In recent years, dozens of them have purchased over 40-foot fishing vessels from the Maritimes and had them modified (cut down) to be used in this province’s under 40-foot inshore fleet. The move by Transport Canada Marine Safety and Security underscores the unfairness and chaos that comes from having two maximum base lengths for inshore fishing vessels in Eastern Canada — 39’ 11” in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 49’ 11” in the Maritimes.”
SEA-NL explained that it takes the stand that DFO should set a standard base length for all inshore fishing vessels in Atlantic Canada.
The Association of Seafood Producers (ASPO) also shared industry concerns related to safety about the maximum-length rules for vessels used in the inshore fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The ASP said it shares concerns expressed elsewhere, including apparent discrepancies in vessel length rules in the Maritimes versus Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Modifying a vessel to comply with federal regulations, as has been reported in recent days in the media, appears illogical,” says Derek Butler, Executive Director, Association of Seafood Producers.
“The changes under these regulations that must be made to vessels used in the inshore fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador raises many questions about stability and safety concerns.”
Butler suggested the first question needs to be safety and says the platforms that harvesters work from need to be built and adapted with that as the first criteria.
“After that, one needs to give consideration to economics, to resource access and quotas, and how we can best land quality product. But first and foremost, safety. That’s job one, and I think the review around vessel regulations that the House of Commons Fisheries Committee called for in 2018 needs to be done.”
In 2018, ASP provided input to that same Committee. One of the recommendations from the report was for DFO to streamline and standardize commercial vessel policy across the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador.
