Tag Archives: Premier Andrew Furey
Fisheries protests give rise to a new John Efford — but what’s next for the unofficial leader?
Until this month, the general public would have associated Efford’s name with his late father — the former fisheries minister who was a firebrand in his own right. But here was the younger Efford, a fisherman from Port de Grave, standing in the back of a pickup truck with a group of followers gathered in front of him. He had led them through two days of intense protests outside the house of government, and now he was the one holding the megaphone — not Fish, Food and Allied Workers union president Greg Pretty, nor FFAW treasury-secretary Jason Spingle. “Thank Jesus we’ve finally got some leadership!” a fisherman yelled from the crowd. “Isn’t it about time?” Efford quipped, garnering cheers. photos, video, more, >>click to read<< 06:16
Snow crab producers, harvesters ready to move on from 6-week delay to start of season
“We have a shortened season, we have an increase in quota, and it’s very important that we keep our focus not on what has happened, but where we need to go,” ASP executive director Jeff Loder told reporters Tuesday. Loder did show slight frustration around the length of the holdout, saying both the price of $2.20 and the incremental increases were part of conversations months ago. Although the FFAW wasn’t able to change the $2.20 per pound set by the price-setting panel, President Greg Pretty says the work done in six weeks of holding out, like making sure $2.20 is the minimum price along with incremental increases, is a positive. >click to read< 15:06
Deal reached in Newfoundland and Labrador crab fishery, harvesters to start fishing
A bitter standoff that shut down Newfoundland and Labrador’s lucrative snow crab fishery for nearly six weeks came to an end on Friday. The union representing inshore fishers and plant workers announced its negotiating team had reluctantly signed a deal with the group representing seafood processors to start the fishery. The deal guarantees prices would not fall below $2.20 a pound, the price fishers were protesting in the first place. Shortly after the union announced the agreement, the provincial government issued a news release saying the deal was the culmination of a meeting that day between the union, the processors association and Premier Andrew Furey, who thanked the two parties for working together. >click to read< 07:56
Premier Intervening – La Scie divided as harvesters wait for resolution to snow crab standoff
Mayor Marlene Regular said Tuesday things are tense, with fishermen wanting to earn money for their families but also wanting to keep their boats tied up in protest of the $2.20 catch price. “We’ve got some that want to get up and go. They want to get up in the morning, they want to go to work,” she said. “We got more that want to stand with their fellow fishermen, which is to be expected, but we don’t know their situation. Like, you can look at someone and say, ‘Oh, they’re well-to-do. They don’t mind having to stay in.’ But there’s other people, you don’t know their situation, when they look at their kids. What do you do? Do I look at my kids, or do I look at my fellow fishermen, right? It’s a big choice.” It’s difficult to see people on opposite sides of the issue, she said. Photos, video, >click to read< 17:37
Crab Negotiations Still Ongoing – Premier Intervenes in Crisis
Negotiations took place all day today, with Premier Andrew Furey intervening between the FFAW and ASP. The Premier’s intervention today signals the extent of the current crisis and the need for action to find an agreeable solution for harvesters. The Bargaining Committee has been clear, as they’ve been over the past several weeks, there is no willingness to fish unless companies move above the 2.20 minimum price. Discussions are planned to continue this evening between the two parties along with Premier Furey. The Premier has committed to make changes to the process and that next season will not be the same – promising to work towards a pricing formula that will ensure fairness, transparency and stability for the industry. However, an immediate solution is still needed to get the fishery underway this year. As noted, work will continue this evening and further updates will be provided when available. Courtney Glode, FFAW-Unifor
SEA-NL: Premier Andrew Furey government must intervene in snow crab tie-up or pay the political price
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) warns Premier Andrew Furey there will be a political cost if his Liberal administration does not urgently move to free the inshore fleet from the hostage situation with seafood processors. “The Andrew Furey government holds the chains that processors and buyers are using to hold the inshore fleet hostage,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “Owner-operators, the crews, and their families will remember if the Furey government stands by and does nothing as they’re starved out.” >click to read the press release< 12:12
Shrimp boats held hostage – SEA-NL demands province intervene in northern shrimp ‘hostage situation’
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the provincial government immediately intervene in the case of two shrimp boats from Port au Choix that are being denied ice from local supplies because they plan to sell their catches in New Brunswick. “Make no mistake these shrimp boats are being held hostage at the wharf by the local buyer who refuses to let them go,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “The province must investigate immediately, and I’ll be writing a letter to that effect today to Premier Andrew Furey.” Fishermen Barry Plowman and Calvin Gould, owner-operators of the 65 footers Challenger 88 and Nightbreaker, have been geared up at the wharf in Port au Choix since Thursday ready to start fishing shrimp in the Gulf. >click to read< 11:15
SEA-NL calls for public inquiry into fishing vessel safety, search and rescue
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is calling for a joint, federal/provincial commission of inquiry into fishing vessel safety, and search and rescue response in this province to investigate why incidents and deaths at sea are on the rise. “There is no greater indictment of serious, systemic problems with fishing vessel safety and search and rescue than the rise in mariner deaths,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “Fishing is already one of the most dangerous occupations in the world without lax government oversight increasing those risks.” > click to read < 13:30
Trip limits must be addressed in Newfoundland and Labradors snow crab fishery
SEA-NL is demanding Premier Andrew Furey address trip limits in the snow crab fishery or his government may have blood on its hands before the end of the fishing season. “The inshore fleet has one of the most dangerous jobs without trip limits adding to the risk,” says Ryan Cleary, Executive Director of SEA-NL. “Trip limits put pressure on enterprise owners — who are also dealing with the threat of a price drop, and fishery closures in the case of molting or soft-shell crab — to fish in weather they would not ordinarily fish in,” he said. “If government stands idly by and lives are lost this crab fishing season the province will have to answer for them directly.” >click to read< 15:09
F/V Villa de Pitanxo: Survivors, bodies from sunken Spanish fishing vessel to be repatriated this week
Spanish officials arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday to begin the process of repatriating the survivors and the bodies recovered from the sinking of a Spanish fishing vessel. Deputy Premier Siobhan Coady greeted members of the flight crew after they arrived in the province. Meanwhile, Alfredo Martinez Serrano, the Spanish Ambassador to Canada, landed in St. John’s late Saturday afternoon. The Villa de Pitanxo fishing vessel sank in heavy seas off the coast of Newfoundland early Tuesday. >click to read< 08:11
SEA-NL: Province to review foreign investment in fishery
SEA-NL is encouraged by news that the province has finally commenced a review of its policies related to foreign investment in the fishery, with consultations planned for this fall. “Our message now is for complete transparency,,, Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture Minister Derrick Bragg wrote SEA-NL on Friday, Sept. 3rd, to reveal his department has begun work on a review of its policies regarding foreign ownership in the fishery. Bragg advised that consultations with industry stakeholders are scheduled for late October-November. The minister’s letter was in response to one written by Cleary to Premier Furey on Aug. 23rd requesting the province investigate foreign control/corporate concentration in the fish processing sector. >click to read< 10:29
SEA-NL: Investigation into foreign control/corporate concentration in fish processing sector required
SEA-NL is calling on Premier Andrew Furey to launch an investigation into foreign control/corporate concentration in the province’s fish processing sector to coincide with a similar ongoing federal review of offshore fishing licences. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is currently reviewing foreign ownership/corporate concentration of offshore licences to prevent foreign interests from establishing effective control over licence-holders. “Ottawa’s review of offshore licences is only half the story, and only half the issues that must be addressed in the province’s fishery,” says Ryan Cleary, interim Executive Director of Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. “The whole story about potential illegal control of offshore and inshore fish quotas won’t be told until the Premier launches a parallel investigation.” >click to read, including the letter< 20:16
SEA-NL accuses federal Fisheries Minister of favouritism. Demands an apology.
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans apologize for showing favouritism to her home province – describing Nova Scotia as “leading the way” in Canada’s seafood sector. “Bernadette Jordan needs to be reminded she’s the Minister for all of Canada – not just Nova Scotia,” says Ryan Cleary, interim Executive Director of SEA-NL, a new and distinct voice for the province’s licensed, owner-operator inshore harvesters. “Premier Andrew Furey himself must ask the Minister whether her goal is to lead the way for jobs and more fish to leave Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Cleary. “It’s time the Furey administration took a stand for the wild commercial fisheries.” >click to read< 14:49
