Twine Loft – May 2015

Appointed: Jim Baird

The TriNav Group of Companies is pleased to announce that Jim Baird has joined its team, effective April 1, 2015. Jim will be a senior advisor providing assistance and advice to many companies in the group, but he will be primarily focused on work related to TriNav Fisheries Consultants (TFC). Jim retired after a 35-year career with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in January 2012. Since that time, he has worked as a consultant dealing with fisheries-related issues. Over his career, Jim has completed both fisheries science and management work from a domestic, national and international perspective.

For the first 15 years of his career with DFO, he worked in the science sector, primarily as a senior fish stock assessment biologist. More recently, he worked as an executive manager (primarily in fisheries management) and concluded his career as regional director general (RDG). As RDG, he had executive responsibilities for various DFO sectors (science, oceans, policy, fisheries management and corporate services). Throughout his career, Jim had considerable interaction with other federal departments, many provincial governments, as well as all sectors of the fishing industry. Jim was also the head of delegation for Canada at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) for his last 2.5 years with DFO and was Canada’s chief negotiator for the determination of fish quotas and management measures for Northwest Atlantic groundfish and shrimp fisheries. This required an extensive understanding of annual science assessments for related species and ecosystem impacts (by-catch as well as fishery impacts on the ocean floor), as well as considerable interaction with managers and scientists from the key NAFO Contracting Parties (Canada, European Union, Norway, Iceland, Russia, United States, Japan, Faroe Islands/Greenland and France).

Passed On: Melvin (Mel) Woodward — Founder Woodward Group of Companies

The well-know Newfoundland and Labrador businessman passed away at his home in Happy Valley-Goose Bay March 15. He was born in North Boat Harbour, Newfoundland and moved to Goose Bay, Labrador in 1957 to work. From his early beginnings of pulling seal pelts to the shore and teaching at a one-room school house for $65/month, Mel went on to build an enterprise with 800 employees and $750 million in sales; a testament to his outstanding contributions to business growth and the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The companies he has created include Woodward’s Oil Limited, Woodward’s Limited, Coastal Shipping Limited, Woodward Motors Limited, Labrador Motors Limited, Labrador Marine Services and Arctic Fuel Delivery. He was particularly proud of his ability to re-establish Newfoundland and Labrador’s role in the Arctic, and he won all contracts through competitive tendering with the Nunavut Government to provide fuel distribution in the territory.

In addition to business, he had a distinguished career in public and community service in the province. Twice elected as a member of the House of Assembly; he served as minister of Labrador Affairs; Director for the Bank of Canada; founding member and President of the Labrador North Chamber of Commerce; President of the Liberal Association; chairman of the Federal Enterprise Development Board for Industry, Trade and Commerce; member of the Memorial University Board of Regents; and chairman of the St. John’s Port Corporation.
Other significant honours included an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Memorial University, the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and being inducted to the Newfoundland and Labrador Business Hall of Fame.

Passed On: Bruce Kaiser — Port Bickerton Mariner

Born June 10, 1930, in Halifax, Kaiser was a son of the late Murray and Marjorie (Tillman) Kaiser, Port Bickerton. He moved to Port Bickerton as a young boy when his father brought the family back home. At the age of 14, he began a life at sea, fishing from the Grand Banks to Cape Hatteras. Other marine endeavors included a term as coxswain, operating tug boats, bringing a boat to Cape Cod through the Intracoastal Waterway, laying telephone cable to Prince Edward Island, working on the Country Harbour ferry, spending a winter working on a yacht in the Bahamas and engineer on an oil rig at Sable Island. He retired as engineer in the Coast Guard in Port Bickerton.

For 20 years, he and his wife operated By the Sea Bed and Breakfast. He was also a member of the planning committee that started the Bickerton Lighthouse Interpretative Centre.