Tag Archives: Marc Russell
Family of Labrador fisherman lost at sea take calls for inquiry into vessel safety to Ottawa
Jeanette and Dwight Russell met with a variety of ministers in a series of meetings earlier this month. Their son, Marc Russell, and his crewmate Joey Jenkins were reported missing Sept. 17, 2021, when their vessel, the Island Lady, did not return to report. The search was clouded with allegations from the families of a lack of co-ordination by governments and that the search was ended too soon. The RCMP called off the search after 10 days. Now the couple has met with several MPs, calling for a federal commission of inquiry into fishing vessel safety. “I don’t think we’re going to get there without an inquiry,” Jeanette said. “This is the hill I’m prepared to die on.” >click to read< 11:16
Jeanette Russell lost her son at sea a year ago. Now she’s starting a coalition.
Jeanette Russell is the mother of Marc Russell, who disappeared off the coast of Mary’s Harbour with crew mate Joey Jenkins aboard his fishing boat the Island Lady just over a year ago. “Labrador has twice the amount of coastline as the island portion of Newfoundland. It has three times the land mass compared to the island of Newfoundland.” “A secondary search and rescue unit does not have the accountability to always be able to respond.” That’s why Russell says she’s starting her own group, called the Labrador Coalition for Search and Rescue, to keep the pressure on government. >click to read< 13:38
The cod delusion – A moratorium on cod fishing that was supposed to last two years has now lasted 30.
Three decades on, the latest DFO science still puts Atlantic cod in the critical zone. “I hope politicians and bureaucrats in Ottawa have learned something, because I’ve learned something: the moratorium was the biggest catastrophe ever heaped on the people in this province, ever. Nothing has been as bad as this,” says Captain Saunders, an 80-year-old Inuk. Seated in the wheelhouse of his longliner, docked in Pinsent’s Arm in late September 2021, Saunders speaks with the authority of someone with six decades of fishing experience, backed by centuries of hindsight. “Newfoundland and Labrador people fished for 500 years and didn’t damage the stocks. What Canada done was an atrocity in my opinion. It ruined a way of life. It ruined culture. All the stages, stage heads, they’re all falling apart, they’re all deteriorated — that’s the government did that.” >click to read< 17:40
TSB: Island Lady likely sank quickly and with no warning
Unable to examine a vessel that cannot be found, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Wednesday it cannot say what happened to a small fishing vessel that disappeared last year off the coast of southern Labrador. Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins of Mary’s Harbour were last seen Sept. 17 aboard the Island Lady, which fished from Mary’s Harbour. The pair had headed out to fish for cod. “The TSB’s investigation into this occurrence could not determine with certainty the cause of the disappearance of the Island Lady,” the board said in a statement Wednesday. >click to read< 14:42
Search expert applauds provincewide push to keep looking for missing N.L. fishermen
A retired coast guard search and rescue coordinator says he’s impressed with the effort now going into the search for two fishers who went missing off the coast of Labrador last week. Merv Wiseman says the provincewide outpouring of support for the fishermen and their families is likely what pushed officials to bring in so many resources to keeping looking for the men and their vessel. Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins left the small Labrador community of Mary’s Harbour last Friday aboard the Island Lady fishing vessel and never returned home. >click to read< 13:03
