Tag Archives: Atlantic Canada
Ottawa to invest in ‘fisheries innovation’ for Atlantic Canada following EU trade deal
With Canada’s trade deal with the European Union on track to come into force provisionally within weeks, the federal government is set to announce a new fisheries innovation fund. But don’t portray this new money as a way to compensate Atlantic Canada, Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc told CBC News last week. “I didn’t say compensation. That was your word,” LeBlanc said after an announcement in Vancouver last week. “What I said is that we’re prepared to work with provinces to look for a way to make our fishing industry the most innovative, productive, sustainable and globally competitive that we can.” Compensation was what Newfoundland and Labrador was looking for in the face of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which will prevent Canadian provinces from placing any export restrictions on raw fish. Continue reading the story here 08:58
Controlling Agreements – Who owns the fishing licence?
According to an official from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), controlling agreements in the inshore fishing fleet on Canada’s East Coast are almost a thing of the past. In 2007, DFO asked fishers throughout the region to declare whether or not they had such agreements. Those who declared themselves to be party to such deals were given a deadline, 2014, to get out of the agreements. Morley Knight, Department of Fisheries and Oceans says about 700 fishers declared controlling agreements and almost all of them have complied with the department’s policy. He added that since 1979, the department’s policy regarding controlling agreements has been clear. A policy to preserve the owner/operator rule — simply that the holder of a commercial fish licence is the person who has control of the management and operation of the fishing enterprise — was enacted in 1979, during the tenure of former fisheries minister Romeo LeBlanc. Still, many fishers entered into agreements with third parties — fish processing companies and other business enterprises — that saw control of the fishing enterprise go to those companies. Read the story here 10:29
Fishermen in Atlantic Canada cash in on high lobster prices
When 50-year-old lobster fisherman Albert Sampson wrapped up the season a few weeks ago, he was pretty pleased with the results. During an intense two month season working 12- to 14-hour days, six days a week, in the high winds off the southeast coast of Cape Breton Island, he and his crew of two deckhands brought in $500,000-worth of lobster. This year, Mr. Sampson got an average price of $8 a pound for his catch, after averaging about $5.75 to $6 a pound last year. I think its been a banner season price-wise for anybody in the Maritimes, says Mr. Sampson, who has been fishing lobster for 20 years. I hope it stays the same next season. Mr. Sampson is one of thousands of lobster fishermen across Atlantic Canada who have benefited from high lobster prices in 2016. In a region where jobs can be hard to come by, especially in rural areas where the majority of lobster fishermen live and fish out of, the increase in lobster prices is welcome news. Read the story here 09:09
Dire warnings in the battle for Atlantic Canada’s lucrative northern shrimp
Nova Scotia fishermen and politicians are warning Ottawa about a possible repeat of the political meddling that led to the devastating collapse of the cod stocks in the early 1990s. This time, however, the problem isn’t cod, it’s northern shrimp. A federal panel reviewing the quota for Newfoundland’s north coast wrapped up the last of six public hearings Friday in Halifax, where 150 fishermen, processors, industry representatives and politicians packed a stuffy conference room. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, the temperature in the room went up as the presenters traded barbs over the fate of a lucrative industry that is only around 40 years old. Read the rest here 20:56
Fishermen, welfare-bums, friendly drinkers? East Coast stereotypes, fact or fiction
British Columbians are left-wing pot-smoking radicals, Albertans are ultra-conservative cowboys and Ontarians believe they’re the centre of the universe. Then there’s Atlantic Canada, to most Canadians the home of friendly, roughspun fisherfolk scratching out a living in quaint villages scattered across the lovely expanse of land between Montreal and the ocean. Read more here capebretonpost 14:08
“awwww, Mom, not lobster again!!” – Beach House Diaries: Lobster Tales
Atlantic Canada is a bucket list destination for seafood lovers — and understandably so. Plump, sweet scallops from Digby, on the Nova Scotian mainland, are considered delicacies everywhere; and Prince Edward Island’s Malpeque o
ysters have had an international reputation since winning the “best in show” title at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. Newfoundland and the province of New Brunswick, meanwhile, are both renowned for trophy-size wild salmon. But my island is all about lobster, and one of my beach house goals is to eat as much as possible. continued@aol
Positive reaction to Senate’s lobster report
THE VANGUARD – 
The executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada is happy to see that a Senate committee studying the lobster industry has recognized the importance of the lobster council and its work. Now Geoff Irvine hopes to see a recommendation included in the Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ report, released on May 28, translate to ongoing support for the council – as the recommendation calls for – and also ongoing mechanisms for funding, which the council needs. continued
Sustainable lobster fishery takes time, Atlantic Canada has sought status for three years
The regional lobster fishery is moving toward sustainable certification, but it is taking time, says the Lobster Council of Canada’s executive director. “It’s complex,” Geoff Irvine said Thursday in an interview. continue
