Tag Archives: John Gillett
John Gillett: Fishery mismanaged while people go hungry
Canada is doing the world a big injustice by mismanaging our Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries. If our fisheries were managed right, we could supply a million tonnes of fish protein to the world and still have enough for our own country. Canada refusing to address the predation of millions of tonnes of fish a year by 10 million seals is criminal to me. Canada, under the UN food security program, has an obligation to share food with the world, not let it be wasted by not controlling the seals that are destroying what fish harvesters harvest and causing an ecological marine disaster. >click to read< 09:10
The grim lesson of Little Bay Islands
I can remember traveling to Little Bay Islands in 1957 when I was 10 years old with my father on the MV Grace Boehner delivering flour and other freight. I marveled at how alive that community was. Boats going and coming in the harbour, wheelbarrows full of salted cod as they were pushed to the weights. Wheelbarrows full of Atlantic salmon. Seemed like hundreds of people working on the wharf. Children at play, singing and laughing. Now, this fishing outport community is beaten to its knees and voted to relocate because the loss of fish resources and the closure of its fish plant.>click to read by John Gillett, Inshore fisherman, Twillingate<14:55
Some advice for the new Fisheries and Oceans minister
I’d like to welcome Jonathan Wilkinson to his new post as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. The fishery department, not the coast guard, he has inherited is a monstrosity of policy and regulations of which very little have to do with conservation of fish. It’s a department run amok with bureaucrats and lobbyists all juggling for control, while our inshore Newfoundland fishery, its fishing villages, its culture, is collapsing. Time for Canada to have a fisheries minister for Canada’s fish harvesters. U.S. President Donald Trump said it was time to drain the swamp and it is long overdue to drain the bureaucratic mess in fisheries and oceans. By inshore fisherman John Gillett >click to read<09:42
A knowledgable fisherman’s words fall on deaf ears – THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE COD!
In response to John Gillett, Inshore fisherman from Twillingate, letter of December 8th, published in the telegram, “There’s something wrong with cod”. This is one of many he has written over the years, a very will spoken, and knowledgeable fisherman and sad to say his letters like many others have fallen on deaf ears. Although this Province has survived on the wealth of the ocean and is our hope for the future, we are unable to elect politicians, both Federal and Provincial, who are willing to try and get this great resource back on track so that the children of John Gillett and myself and others can have a bright future and stay in this Province. The fishery is in a mess and I don’t see any politician willing to take this on. (Ret) Capt. Wilfred Bartlett Green Bay South [email protected] 20:11
There’s something wrong with cod
It will be another decade maybe, research shows, before harvesters can fish codfish commercially. It’s already been a quarter century since we’ve been able to fish cod commercially. Something is not right here. There has been ample time for cod to be back to commercial status with the minimum amount of cod that has been taken out of the system by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Why aren’t the cod stocks improving? Is it because of predators of cod and cod larvae, or is it due to seismic work for oil that is killing the food of cod and cod larvae? Is it poor science on cod stocks, and they really don’t know what’s out there? Is it because of foreign overfishing,,, click here to read the story 20:21
Twillingate fisherman ready to sell cod, but no one is buying
John Gillett is ready to start landing cod, but no one is buying. “I didn’t sell either cod fish in July and (as of Aug. 11) I haven’t got one sold yet,” he said. “I was told processors are dragging their feet on purchasing cod because capelin and turbot are coming into the plants at the same time. There is a shortage of workers, also a shortage of fish tubs to hold the cod. But with more than 40 ground fish processing licenses in the province, Gillett wants to know why only a few are processing cod.,,, “I really don’t think the provincial and federal governments want a successful inshore fishery. It’s a form of resettlement, because in the outports, what is there other than the fishery?” click here to read the story 17:22
FISH-NL calls on Ottawa for ice compensation/gear replacement
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on Ottawa to extend EI benefits for fish harvesters on Newfoundland’s northeast coast impacted by severe ice conditions. FISH-NL also says harvesters who lost crab gear should be compensated because the federal government should not have opened the fishery in their areas. “Some harvesters and their families are having an extremely hard time of it,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL, in calling for ice compensation in the form of an EI extension. “They can’t go fishing because ice conditions haven’t improved, and they ran out of EI benefits weeks ago.”,,, John Gillett, an inshore fisherman from Twillingate, wrote the following letter today to federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc, click here to read the press release 15:44
Fishermen never wanted a big brother – John Gillett, inshore fisherman, Twillingate
Our fishing and sealing industries mean a lot to us. We never looked to government or wanted the Canadian government to be a big brother to us. Mother Nature was our enforcer until the Department of Fisheries came along with its heavy hand that sent our culture in a downward spin. They gave permits to offshore draggers foreign and domestic to reap the spawning grounds in winter while the majority of fish harvesters were onshore in the winter mending gear and repairing or building boats to catch the returning fish coming from the offshore in the spring and summer. They put in place licence conditions that only a Philadelphia lawyer could understand. Read the letter here 08:46
