Tag Archives: John Efford

‘A force’: Former N.L. and federal cabinet minister John Efford has passed away

Former federal and provincial cabinet minister John Efford is being remembered as “true icon” of Newfoundland and Labrador politics. He died Sunday at the age of 77. Efford was born in 1944 in the small fishing community of Port de Grave. He became the provincial Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture in 1996, four years after a moratorium on cod fishing in the province led to widespread economic collapse and despair, particularly in rural areas. Efford was a fisherman himself and, as minister, he fought hard for the industry’s recovery. >click to read< 08:52

Critics of Gill Nets Trying to Drive Fishery Offshore

ffaw-signThe Inshore Director for the FFAW says the latest allegations against the use of gill nets is nothing but an attempt to drive the industry offshore. Bill Broderick says the fishery has changed since its early beginnings in the province. He says if we’re going to build an industry we need to build it around a focus on quality rather than quantity. Former politician John Efford came out against the use of gill nets in commercial fishing because he says it affects the quality of the fish. Broderick says that allegation is an attempt to squeeze out the little guy. He says when the moratorium was called the conventional wisdom was if you shut down the capelin fishery, kill and the seals and stop using gill nets it would lead to utopia and we know now this was wrong. Link 13:22

Burn the gillnets?

cod-fish-852As we move ever closer to a revival of the commercial cod fishery, insiders say it’s essential the focus be on quality over quantity, and that means there may be no place for the controversial gillnet. That was one of the messages delivered Monday in St. John’s to members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, and no one said it more forcefully than John Efford. “Take every gillnet in Newfoundland and have a bonfire,” Efford, a former provincial and federal politician with deep ties to the fishery, told the committee. The committee is studying the northern cod stock, and preparing for a day when the resource is once again healthy enough to sustain a large-scale commercial fishery. There’s different opinions on when that might be, but there appears to be unanimous support for a fishery that delivers premium quality products to the marketplace, therefore yielding the highest possible price for those who take part. Efford says there’s no place for gillnets in such a fishery because quality suffers, and the market will not tolerate it. Read the story here 16:16