Northern Labrador: The Forgotten People
A few generations ago, as the population of Newfoundland grew, there wasn’t enough fish to sustain us all, so we started building schooners, not only to fish the Grand Banks, but to migrate further north.
We moved north to a thousand miles of coastline with sparsely populated communities on the Labrador Coast for the rich catches of cod and salmon. Many built fishing rooms called stations where they would return with their families every year, shipping their fish back to the Island each ...
Fish Audit Confirms Fish Negligence
A new fish audit released by Oceana Canada confirms, yet again, that the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery is being basically abandoned by the federal government.
The current audit exposes that Canada is failing the wild fisheries from coast to coast — with just one third considered to be healthy. The findings include the fact that nearly one in five stocks are critically depleted, including the Northern cod. Nearly 80 per cent of stocks lack a rebuilding plan and the health of a third of ...
PFHCB Rules Need to Change
I am sharing a photo (below) with you loyal Navigator readers of some of the squid that ran ashore on the beach near my fishing stage and fish store at Main Tickle, Twillingate recently.
This is not an uncommon occurrence this time of the year, but the only difference now is that years ago when we were fishing, the squid would always be picked up for bait.
In many fishing communities now, there are just one or two fishers left, their enterprises being sold out to “Big Fishing Skippers...
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 ...
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 ...
When Will We Ever Learn?
In my lifetime, I have seen many ups and downs in this province of Newfoundland and Labrador that I love very dearly.
Although it’s a harsh and unforgiving land at times, I would not want to live anywhere else.
Most of our problems in this province have been made by our politicians.
Let’s go back to the time we entered Confederation with Canada. We are still not sure if it was by choice or as Donald Trump would say, it was rigged.
When we entered Confederation, we passed over to ...
All Unions Should Have Term Limits
I wish to reply to Barb Dean-Simmons’ article, Not all members of FFAW will get to vote for interim secretary-treasurer, published in The Telegram’s Sept. 29 edition.
Not only was the byelection to replace retired secretary-treasurer Dave Decker reserved for members of the FFAW executive, but when nominations opened, the 2,600-plus inshore harvesters who signed FISH-NL cards in the fall of 2019 were blocked from running for the office.
The FFAW executive unilaterally changed the ...
The Fishery Was and Still is Our Reason for Being Here
I recently watched Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey on Issues and Answers, NTV, Oct. 25, where he mentioned the fishery and that was the reason for us being here.
I have mentioned that statement many times in my articles to the news media and open line shows over the last 40-plus years.
The last six years, under the leadership of Premier Dwight Ball, the word fishery was barely mentioned. He did say one day when a reporter questioned him about the fishery that he knew very ...
