Tag Archives: LIFO
No compensation for East Coast shrimp fishermen hit by Northern Shrimp quota changes
The federal fisheries minister has flatly rejected the notion of compensating fishermen in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick who are facing reductions in their northern shrimp quotas. During a news conference in Halifax July 21, Dominic LeBlanc said the fishery is still viable for those fishermen, so compensation is not needed. “We wouldn’t compensate people who are prosecuting a viable fishery,” said LeBlanc, standing next to the Halifax Harbour at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. “But we’re sending a signal to both the inshore fleet in Newfoundland and Labrador and to the offshore sector in other provinces… that there are tough years ahead, it would appear, in terms of the scientific advice.” LeBlanc recently scrapped the last-in, first-out (LIFO) policy and replaced it with a system of proportional sharing. He said his decision on LIFO was based on science and is in the best interest of the shrimp stocks, which are in decline. Read the rest here 11:43
St. Anthony Mayor Ernest Simms says abolishing LIFO not good for St. Anthony economy
Not everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador has been lobbying to abolish the Last in, First Out policy governing northern shrimp quotas. Now there is a fear in St. Anthony following the ministerial advisory panel’s recommendations. St. Anthony Mayor Ernest Simms says council is hoping Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc dismisses the recommendations put forward last week. He said those changes would be detrimental to the economy of the hub of the Northern Peninsula, and devastating to what St. Anthony Basin Resources Inc. (SABRI) has built in recent years. The organization was established in 1997 to manage a special allocation of 3,000 tonnes of northern shrimp for the northern part of the peninsula. The volunteer board is comprised of fishers, fish plant workers, and community and development committee representatives. The organization has agreements, including with two Icelandic companies,,, Read the rest here 11:20
Last In First Out – Shrimp quota change may be ‘disastrous’ for Nova Scotia fishery
A massive decline in northern shrimp stocks off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland could cost Nova Scotia fish companies millions. That has one Nova Scotia fishermen worried about his own commitment to buy a $60-million factory freezer trawler that could fish year-round. “Changing the ground rules at this point in time could have a disastrous impact upon us,” said Liverpool’s Ulf Snarby. With partners in New Brunswick and Labrador, he has been fishing northern shrimp off the northeastern coast of Newfoundland, called Area 6, since 1977. Fishable shrimp stocks declined by 41 per cent in Area 6 from 2014 to 2015, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans reported in January. With that dramatic decline in the stock, many in the industry expect quotas to be reduced. That’s caused a fight to brew between fishermen in Newfoundland and those in Nova Scotia over who can fish what’s left. Read the rest here – The new $60 million factory freezer trawler Click here 10:34
A LIFO Win for the Inshore Fleet! Maybe. Who wins when they redistribute the quota is the next question.
The Ministerial Advisory Panel conducting an external review of the Last-In, First-Out policy (LIFO) released its recommendations yesterday. The Panel recommended abolishing LIFO and implementing permanent proportional sharing.The recommendation went on to advise LIFO be replaced with a proportional sharing approach. There, each quota holder receives a fixed percentage of the resource. For that, the panel has also advised the area fished by the inshore fleet, Shrimp Fishing Area 6 (SFA 6), use 1997 to 2009 as a reference period in establishing the new percentages, given the changes to quota shares forced by LIFO then to now. Shares should be based on total accumulated allocations over that period, for those still around in 2009, the report states. This will reveal the real winners. Two articles, click here, and click here Read the Report of the Ministerial Advisory Panel click here 7.1 lists the “options” Read the Press Release from FFAW-Unifor click here 08:03
Last-in first-out policy squabble pits Nunavut and Labrador against Nova Scotia
There’s a danger that Nunavut’s already inadequate share of offshore shrimp quota could get even smaller if the Department of Fisheries and Oceans continues to apply its last in, first out approach to allocating shrimp quotas, Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson said last week. “All Nunavut asks for is to be treated fairly and to have the terms of their constitutionally protected Nunavut land claim respected,” Patterson said. Patterson’s contribution to the campaign comes at a time when various entrenched interests, especially long-established fishing fleets in Nova Scotia, are fighting to hold on to their total allowable catch in the face of shrimp stocks that are declining because of climate change. “Last-in, first-out,” or “LIFO,” is a federal policy that’s been applied to the northern shrimp fishery since at least 1997. Read the rest here 17:36
Last In First Out policy ‘descriminates against Nunavut,’ says Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson
Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson is standing up for his territory’s shrimping industry. On Friday Patterson called on federal fisheries and oceans minister Dominic LeBlanc to consider Nunavut’s position when reviewing changes to the Northern shrimp quotas. Northern shrimp stocks dropped dramatically in 2014 and 2015, so it’s expected the quotas are going to be cut. Under the federal government’s “last in first out” (LIFO) policy, Nunavut would bear the brunt of the cuts because the territory’s fishing companies are the newest to have been given licences. Other fishing companies in the Atlantic provinces were operational well before Nunavut was even established in 1999. Therefore, Patterson says, the LIFO policy favours those companies and “discriminates against Nunavut.” Read the rest here 09:18
The northern shrimp problem — a brief history, Russell Wangersky
Perhaps it’s fitting this battle is over a creature that’s a hermaphrodite — because the ongoing battle over northern shrimp hinges on a fundamental change. The financial-valuable northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis, develops as a male, lives four to seven years as that sex, before going through an inversion and becoming female. Right now, a federally established panel is asking a crucial question: should the last players to enter the shrimp fishery — Newfoundland and Labrador vessels closest to the resource — be the first ones edged out as the biomass shrinks and the total allowable catch shrinks with it? So think of this as something of a shrimp primer. Read the rest here 10:39
LIFO – Northern shrimp quota panel hears from New Brunswick fishing companies
Two major New Brunswick fishing companies appeared Friday before a federal panel in Halifax to argue for the existing northern shrimp allocation regime. They are trying to maintain historical access they were granted to fishing grounds off Newfoundland and Labrador as the northern shrimp stock declines. “How is pushing a fleet out involved in the fishery for 38 years a fair policy?” questioned Jean St. Cyr, a policy analyst for two offshore shrimp licence holders in New Brunswick: Caramer Limited and Lameque Offshore Fishing Limited. Both companies are based out of New Brunswick’s Acadian peninsula. The federal government is under pressure in Newfoundland and Labrador to end the so-called, last in, first out policy — also known as LIFO — in the northern shrimp fishery. Read the rest here 13:11
Aiden Penton’s story – Fogo Island fisherman has taken big risks to build his business
Aiden Penton did not need written notes when he addressed the LIFO panel at Gander two weeks ago. The Fogo Island fisherman simply told his life story. “My father was a fisherman, my grandfather was a fisherman and my great-grandfather …” he told panellists Paul Sprout, Wayne Follett, Trevor Taylor and Barbara Crann. His family has been making a living from the sea for so long that “I don’t know how far I can go back,” he said. But he knows one simple truth: he was born a fisherman, and carries on a family legacy that began several generations before. He went ‘aboard the boat’ when he could only crawl and he’s made a living from fishing for almost 50 years. He’s seen some pretty hard years. He’s seen fisheries fail. Read the rest here 12:47
LIFO – Nova Scotia fish companies fight to keep northern shrimp quota in Area 6
Nova Scotia fish companies that pioneered the offshore northern shrimp fishery are fighting to keep their share of quota as the Trudeau government faces its first major fisheries decision in Atlantic Canada — one that pits province against province. The question is, who gets to catch a plummeting northern shrimp stock off Newfoundland and Labrador? “We’re being used to fix a problem we didn’t create,” said Andrew Titus, captain of the Mersey Phoenix, a Nova Scotia-based factory-freezer shrimp trawler. “If they change those rules, that is a direct hit to us … they want to kick us out of an area where we have been fishing since 1978,” said Titus, an employee of Mersey Seafoods. The so-called last in, first out policy — known as LIFO in bureaucratic jargon — has been used to manage quota sharing for decades, including the northern shrimp fishery. It means the last entrants to a fishery are the first out when a quota is cut. Read the story here 09:39
LIFO panel gets personal stories at Gander hearings-Who will share the northern shrimp?
Glen Best is a fifth-generation fisherman who lives on Fogo Island. Since 1990, he’s invested about $5 million in his fishing enterprise — buying new vessels and fishing licences, and transitioning his enterprise from groundfish to crab and, since 1998, to shrimp. He was one of about 100 people who came to Gander Thursday to present to the federal panel appointed by Fisheries and Oceans Minister Hunter Tootoo to review the (LIFO) policy on northern shrimp. Best’s story was similar to the one told by several other fishermen at the hearing. Read the rest here 11:28
The politics behind the northern shrimp – A quick look at two decades of decision-making
LIFO (Last In-First Out) – The cool thing about the Internet is that it offers up reams of background reports, press releases and historical data related to government policies and political decisions. Sometimes, someone who was there — who was privy to some of the goings on within the inner circle — will pick up the phone to remind a reporter of some of the history of a particular issue.So it was last week that Gerry Byrne, who is the province’s Minister of Advanced Education, gave me a call to talk about northern shrimp. Strange, you say? Wouldn’t the provincial fisheries minister, Steve Crocker, be the one to reach out to a reporter on that ongoing issue? In normal circumstances, yes. However, in this instance, Bryne has the lead on background material. Read the rest here 17:01
Last In-First Out (LIFO) policy – DFO official assures advisory panel is ‘arms-length and independent
An official from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) says the Ministerial Advisory Panel chosen to assess the Last In-First Out (LIFO) policy on northern shrimp is an “arms-length” independent panel. Fisheries and Oceans minister Hunter Tootoo declined a request for an interview earlier this week. Instead, Sylvie Lapointe, DFO’s director general of fisheries management, was chosen to answer questions posed by TC Media regarding the appointment and independence of the panel. As for the choice of panelists, Lapointe said the minister selected the members based on their “wide range of skills, experience and expertise, to ensure we can have an independent and comprehensive review of the LIFO policy.” Read the rest here 11:45
LIFO suction – War between big fish and little fish, or perhaps corporations and small business
If the controversy over quotas in Shrimp Fishing Area 6 doesn’t sound familiar, it should. Because it really is the same old song and dance when it comes to our age-old industry: too many boats chasing too few fish — or, in this case, one of the species those fish feed on. Pandalus borealis — the northern shrimp — has gone a long way towards alleviating some of the pain caused by the collapse of the cod fishery almost 25 years ago. But it, too, has come under pressure, and the science indicates quotas must be reduced. Read the rest, Click here 17:45
LIFO (Last in-First out) numbers need a closer look: economist
Debate around the last in, first out (LIFO) policy for the allocation of shrimp quotas rages, even as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans begins to re-evaluate applying its quota cuts to inshore fishermen before any larger, year-round enterprises. At the Comfort Inn in St. John’s Tuesday afternoon, made a presentation at a gathering of the St. John’s Board of Trade, saying more study would help any facts-based debate and decision-making around LIFO. He told his audience, based on figures available, he would expect the province’s GDP to fall $540 for every tonne of shrimp transferred from the year-round fleet to the inshore fishery. Read the rest here 09:20
Ottawa to temporarily suspend LIFO policy, shrimp fishery in Area 6 to be temporarily suspended
A significant fisheries announcement is set to be made Tuesday that will see the “last in, first out” (LIFO) policy in the shrimp fishery temporarily suspended by the federal government. A seven-person panel will be appointed to study that policy that has come under heavy criticism from local politicians and fishermen, who say it unfairly hinders small inshore boats because they were last to enter the fishery. The shrimp fishery in areas four and five will continue as planned, but area six — off southern Labrador and northern Newfoundland — will be suspended pending the panel’s report. Read the rest here 08:42
Keith Sullivan set the tone early at FFAW shrimp rally Thursday, railing against “that bullshit policy, LIFO”
Fishermen’s union president Keith Sullivan set the tone early at a shrimp rally Thursday, railing against “that bullshit policy, LIFO” — last in, first out — and how it affects Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters. A little while later, when Fogo Island Mayor Andrew Shea suggested that some civil disobedience might be needed — breaking down doors, or tying up the big foreign freezer trawlers at the wharf — a harvester towards the back of the room shouted, “Come on, let’s go!” His friend leaned over and said to him, “In jail, you will be.” The first harvester replied, “I don’t give a f—.” Bill Broderick, a representative for the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW), reminded the crowd that non-violent political action is what they’re going for. Read the rest here 08:47
FFAW-Unifor wants all of Area 6 shrimp quota for inshore fleet
Union, members say boats, fish plants, whole communities to die out if no change made to policy The FFAW-Unifor held a press conference in St. John’s this morning, trying to maintain public attention on the plight faced by the people and communities with a stake in the northern shrimp fishery. Fear amongst harvesters, plant workers, plant owners, truckers, other rural service providers is reaching fever pitch, following word to the northern shrimp advisory committee of a significant drop in shrimp stocks in fishing area six (A6) — As a result of the existing Fisheries policy of Last In First Out (LIFO), the bulk of expected quota cuts (some 90 per cent) will go to the inshore fleet and local plants. Read the rest here 15:40
FFAW, offshore shrimp fleet at odds, as LIFO raises its ugly head
With word of a severe drop in shrimp stock in the prime fishing grounds off southern Labrador, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union (FFAW-Unifor) is asking for an immediate halt on shrimping in the area. But the FFAW represents inshore fleet and island processors, rather than the factory-freezer operations of the offshore fleet. And the Canadian Association of Prawn Producers, speaking for the larger-vessel operations, said Thursday the FFAW’s cries are an inappropriate reaction, while their reasoning is misleading. Read the rest here 08:40
Our Jobs, Our Resources: Unfair Sharing of Northern Shrimp
The future of our coastal communities is at risk. Thousands of jobs are in jeopardy due to unfair sharing of the northern shrimp resource. The federal government has deliberately chosen to ignore the longstanding principle of adjacency to the benefit of the corporate-owned offshore fleet, to the detriment of our coastal communities. Our northern shrimp resources are being taken out of our waters with no benefit to our province’s economy. Read the rest here 10:10
Fishermen hold protest in St. Anthony
During a peaceful protest, the group was able to halt crews from working on the docked factory freezer Ocean Prawns. Similar to a protest held earlier this year in Corner Brook, fishermen are asking the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to reconsider the policy, (LIFO) which saw inshore fishermen shoulder 90 per cent of a 10,000-tonne cut in 2014. Read the rest here 10:16
FFAW PRESS RELEASE – 3Ps Fish Harvesters Affected by Unfair Quota Allocations
ST. John’s, NL – For the second year in a row, groundfish harvesters on the south coast of Newfoundland have been effectively put out of business in midseason because of unfair quota allocations by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Read more here 10:16
