Tag Archives: president FISH-NL

On World Fisheries Day FISH-NL reiterates call for Trudeau to apologize to NL for fisheries mismanagement 

The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is reiterating its call for Prime Minster Justin Trudeau to formally apologize to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for fisheries mismanagement, which continues to threaten the province’s sustainability. “The Prime Minister is set to apologize to residential school survivors in Labrador, and for LGBTQ persecution, and we’re hopeful his next apology will be to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for the destruction — under Ottawa’s watch — of our once-great commercial fisheries,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. click here to read the statement 23:58

Letter: Fish union failing members on crucial issues

I wish to respond to Lana Payne’s June 24th column (“Austerity should be on trial”). I have no problem with the opinion piece — austerity, no doubt, had a hand in the recent tragic high-rise fire in London, England. But while austerity should be on trial in Europe, FFAW-Unifor was actually before the courts right here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Payne, Unifor’s Atlantic director, ignored the elephant on the wharf — as has the province’s Federation of Labour and every other union leader in the province, and country. It’s unprecedented for a Canadian union to have deceived its members, which is exactly what happened with scallop harvesters in the Strait of Belle Isle. click here to read the letter 19:48

The elephant on the wharf – ‘Salt-water mafia’ term coined for a reason

I wish to reply to Russell Wangersky’s March 11th column (“FISH-NL goes cap in hand”) by stating for the record that the characterization of the FFAW as the “salt-water mafia” wasn’t my turn of phrase, but that of inshore harvesters. Indeed, the phrase is so common by the water these days that I’m surprised the salt-water mafia hasn’t challenged harvesters for calling them the FFAW. The way Wangersky sees it, by referring to the salt-water mafia as the FFAW (my apologies, can’t keep it straight), I’m actually “saying that the FFAW is an organized criminal enterprise” that’s been “implicated in everything from drug running to prostitution to murder.” That’s not true. The word “mafia” is defined as a “closed group of people in a particular field (or body of water), having controlling influence,” which, to most harvesters’ line of thinking, sums up the FFAW. Read the Ryan Cleary op-ed here 10:27