Tag Archives: Donald Publicover
Licence technicality forces son of a Nova Scotia moonlighter lobster fisherman to move away
Mike Kaiser has fished lobster with his father, Dwayne, since he was little. Like many, he wants to carry on the legacy. On Tuesday, Mike Kaiser will move to Alberta to pick up work. He says he’d rather stay in Nova Scotia around his family, doing what his father did for nearly 50 years. But a policy that’s been around almost as long means Dwayne cannot pass on his licence to his son. He holds one of about 70 “moonlighter” licences granted years ago to part-time fishermen in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Those licences die with them. >click to read< 11:09
Fishermen take federal government to court over right to sell Class B licences again
A law firm representing a little over half of the 75 remaining fishermen in the Maritimes with Class B licences is taking the federal government to court for a second time. Class B licences were created in 1976 by the federal government with the goal of reducing fishing in the name of conservation. They were assigned to fishermen who had another primary source of income and can’t be reassigned or sold. Class B licences only allow for 30 per cent of the fishing that Class A licences allow. Donald Publicover, 71, of Nova Scotia wants the ability to sell or transfer his licence to ensure financial stability for his family, which includes two adult children with cerebral palsy. >click to read< 11:04
Jordan’s moonlighter lobster licence decision deep-sixed
A 69-year-old Nova Scotia lobster fisherman who wants to sell his licence so he can take care of his two adult children with cerebral palsy has won a judicial review of the former fisheries minister’s decision to reject the transaction. Donald Publicover took the federal government to court after Bernadette Jordan, then fisheries minister, decided Aug. 5, 2020, to turn down the Brookside man’s request for an exemption to transfer his Category B lobster licence, Jordan, fisheries minister until she was defeated by Conservative Rick Perkins in South Shore-St. Margarets last fall turned down that request in a letter dated Aug. 5, 2020. Jordan’s decision was “unreasonable,” according to the judge. >click to read< 10:05
Category B lobster licence holders still facing 50-year-old punishment
In 1976 DFO created the “moonlighter policy” which was aimed at removing people from the fishery as a conservation method. The result is that it has unfairly targeted fishers who held other jobs or professions almost 50 years ago. DFO deemed fishing was not their primary source of income and they became the “Class B” fishers.,, “It hangs over my head, that when I am gone, I leave nothing to my son. It all goes to the grave with me – boat, traps, licence. This is not fair,” said Clayton Smith of Salmon Beach, N.B. >click to read< 07:45
