Discussion paper would permit huge processing ships for inshore Atlantic fisheries.
by Samantha Bayard
The struggling Atlantic fisheries appear to be threatened by new policies proposed in January and February discussion papers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. At issue is the long-established concept of "fleet separation", which prohibits gigantic corporate ships that process fish as well as catch them. Fleet separation helps maintain the shore industry as well as the fleet industry, in the valuable in-shore fisheries.
NDP MP Jack Harris explained why the fleet separation is essential to maintain in his St John's East (Newfoundland) riding and across the region. "It's a simple separation of the harvesting from the processing," he said. "It is what allows the communities a connection with the fish in the sea."
The current licensing system supports independent fisher folks who use many small boats to catch fish, which they then sell to on-shore fish processing plants. By omitting "fleet separation" and the owner/operator restrictions on "stacked licensing" (one license for harvesting and another for processing), the white papers have raised concerns that only corporations will be able to compete for the remaining fish in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.
Both Liberals and NDP MP s have spoken out in favour of protecting east coast fishers, fish processors, and the coastal communities, which depend on the valuable inshore fisheries. "East coast fishers are worried," NDP critic Fin Donnelly said in the House on March 6. "The government is about to eliminate the long-standing fleet separation policy. It is talking about handing over the fragile inshore fishery to big corporate interests. Corporate concentration in BC has been a total disaster. That fishery has never recovered."
Liberal Leader Bob Rae returned to the subject the next day. "This is an issue that speaks directly to the well-being of literally thousands of people, whose livelihoods have been maintained by having an effective regulation of their ability to own licenses and to keep off the corporate forces," said Rae.
Donnelly, Stoffer and Harris discuss fleet separation in Atlantic Canada
Independent fishers are demonstrating their outrage too; more than 200 fishers protested recently in Newfoundland at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada headquarters that they had been excluded from this decision.
Liberal MP Scott Simms highlighted the lack of real world consultations and pointed out real world restrictions on the value of limited-time online surveys For example, in his riding of 195 communities, 40 do not have Internet access, let alone a high speed connection.
Simms, MP for Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, said that the government is attempting to railroad the white paper recommendations through with minimal public attention, in a similar way "to what they did with the Fisheries Act, to shut down dissension and ramp this policy through for ideological reasons," he said.
Liberal Senator Elizabeth Hubley also dreads the impact the proposed changes would have on Atlantic communities. "To me, it's such an unfair move," she said. "It's not considering the human impact, and the impact it will have on small mom and operations."
Hubley and Simms discuss independent fisheries
About Samantha Bayard
Samantha Bayard is a young journalist living and working out of Ottawa. She has been a contributor to the Straight Goods News family of websites since 2009. She is an avid cyclist and lover of animals.
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