Tag Archives: Maritime Fishermen’s Union
Fishing industry group says it’s looking for ways to prevent Atlantic right whale entanglements
The fishing industry says it’s looking for a solution to help prevent North Atlantic right whales from enduring painful, and sometimes deadly, entanglements with fishing gear. The Maritime Fishermen’s Union says a longer snow crab fishing season and an unprecedented number of right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence created a “perfect storm” this year for a massive die-off.,,, “Our association is being proactive with this issue and there are some consultations that will be going forward with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as soon as early November,” click here to read the story 15:24
Some N.B. lobster fishermen tie up in protest over price
Some lobster fishermen in eastern New Brunswick have tied up their boats in a protest over the prices they’re getting for lobster. Fishermen in ports such as Pointe Sapin and Richibucto remained at the docks Thursday, saying landings are down and prices are low. Michel Richard, an organizer with the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, says processors suggested much higher prices before the fall season began on Aug. 8, but instead they’re paying about $2 per pound lower. Fishermen say right now they’re being paid about $4.25 a pound for canners and $4.75 a pound for market lobsters. Richard says fishermen are upset because they aren’t getting a clear answer from the buyers and processors on a reason for the lower prices. link 12:22
Lobster fishermen tie up boats after meeting processors about low prices – Fishermen have been getting paid, but none have received official pay stubs, so Richard said there is no proof of what the current prices really are. click here to read the story 16:37
N.B. lobster fishermen discouraged by lower prices
The Maritime Fishermen’s Union is voicing concerns about the low prices its members are getting paid for their catches in southeastern New Brunswick this season and suggesting protests could follow. Wages currently sit at $4.75 a pound per market lobster and $4.25 a pound per can of lobster — nearly $2 less than what was expected, according to MFU organizer Michel Richard. There is “no excuse for such a low price,” Richard told CBC’s Information Morning Moncton on Monday, as lobster season entered its second week. “It’s very troubling, and our fishermen are trying to reason why this is happening, and the excuses are not realistic,” he said. click here to read the story 18:33
Fishing groups say lobster fishery would be better off with industry-led by-catch monitoring system as opposed to something DFO imposes
If the reality is that it’s coming anyway, three local fisheries organizations say fishermen and industry would be better off to handle it themselves as opposed to having it handed down by DFO. Such is the case with a proposal that could see by-catch monitoring happen in the lobster fishery by the fall of 2018. Three local organizations – Coldwater Lobster Association, the Maritime Fishermen’s Union and the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fisheries Association – have joined efforts to get the message out that industry is willing to develop a monitoring system that would be better for the fishery in terms of cost and time.,,, Another proposal being thrown around is cameras on fishing boats. These three associations are all strongly opposed to such a Big Brother approach, saying not only would it be extremely expensive, but it would not generate any useful scientific data. click here to read the story 11:16
DFO plan for at-sea observers met with skepticism by lobster fishermen
A federal government proposal to introduce mandatory at-sea observers on board the southwest Nova Scotia lobster fleet is getting a cold shoulder from representatives of three fisheries groups.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans wants observers to monitor bycatch of cod and cusk caught inadvertently in lobster traps. Bernie Berry of the Coldwater Lobster Association said the plan would require all fishermen to notify the government every time they plan to leave port — a process known as hailing out. Some would be randomly selected to have an observer from an existing monitoring company meet them at the dock prior to sailing. click here to read the story 11:37
Christian Brun, Maritime Fishermen’s Union official one of 2 men killed in Miramichi crash
The director general of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union was one of two men killed in a head-on collision Monday morning on Route 11 in Lower Newcastle, Radio-Canada reported. Christian Brun, 46, of Cormier Village was the driver of a car that collided with a car driven by a 69-year-old man from Miscou. The name of the older man was not available. “The Acadian community has just lost a great person,” Gilles Thériault, a fisheries consultant, who was visibly shaken by the news of Brun’s death, told Radio-Canada in French. Thériault called Brun a leader in the fisheries industry, a poet and an artist. We extend our deepest condolences to Christian Brun’s family and friends. Read the story here 19:45
Lobster season on Nova Scotia’s southwest coast delayed by bad weather
The lobster season on Nova Scotia’s southwest coast has been delayed by one day due to high winds a rough seas. The season was supposed to start Monday but has been put off until Tuesday morning at 6 a.m., said Graeme Gawn president of local 9 with the Maritime Fishermen’s Union. “It’s always frustrating because everybody is ready to go and they want to go, but nobody wants to get hurt and nobody wants to see their crews get hurt.” Gawn said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans made the decision Sunday morning on a conference call. The first day of the lobster season, referred to as dumping day, is when fishermen first set their lobster traps, it’s considered one of the most dangerous days of the entire season. Most fishermen are more than happy to wait until the weather is more cooperative to head out on the water, said Gawn. Read the rest here 12:24
TSB says more needs to be done to ensure safety of commercial fishermen – Maritime Fishermen’s Union responds
The Maritime Fishermen’s Union is responding to criticism from the Transportation Safety Board that there are still too many fatal fishing accidents every year in Canada. The union says it’s doing its part to try and make the fishing industry safer but points out fishing is a dangerous job and unfortunate things happen. “The reality of this industry is there are many factors that are uncontrollable and unpredictable. That is something we sometimes forget,” said Christian Brun, MFU’s executive secretary. Brun was responding to the recent release of the Transportation Safety Board’s Watchlist 2016 and in particular, the portion on commercial fishing safety that calls for stakeholders, industry and government to act on longstanding recommendations. Read the story here 08:10
Maritime Fishermen’s Union invests $300k in lighter life jackets to save lives
New Brunswick lobster fishermen were handed free life jackets on the first day of lobster season, with the hopes of getting more of them to actually wear the life-savers. The fishermen’s union started handing out the jackets, estimated to be worth approximately $300 each, to about a thousand fishermen in Southeastern New Brunswick. The move is an effort by the union to get its fishermen to take safety more seriously. Despite repeated boating accidents, some fatal, getting fishermen to wear life jackets on the job has been a constant struggle — especially when it comes to the older generation. “It’s still difficult,” said Christian Brun, executive director of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union. Read the rest here 12:02
Nova Scotia fishermen win back right to operate as Local 4 of Maritime Fishermen’s Union
A Nova Scotia fishermen’s local has won a court case to get back its union accreditation. “It means we can get back to the business of representing our fishermen on fishermen issues instead of spending, as we did, almost two years battling to maintain our organization’s accreditation,” said Gordon Beaton, president of Local 4 of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union on Friday. That battle began when the province’s fisheries and aquaculture minister informed the local that its membership was too small and revoked its accreditation. The minister at the time was Queens-Shelburne MLA Sterling Belliveau. Beaton’s group represents about 45 people who fish in Region 1, which stretches from Pugwash to Cape North. That’s a small portion of the 600 or so fishermen in the region. Under the 2011 Fish Harvester Organizations Support Regulations, the local needed 100 members or 15 per cent of the fishermen in the area. However, the court found that Local 4 was accredited in 2002 under an earlier act. It was nearly 10 years later that the new legislation, with membership minimums, came into effect. It also included a grandfather provision for organizations accredited under the old legislation. Read the rest here 18:09
Winners and Losers – The politics of fisheries decisions in Lobster Fishing Area 25
With just about any political decision there are winners and there are losers. A tax break helps some while others pay through a reduction in service somewhere else. There are also winners and losers, or at least a perception of such, in the case of Federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo’s decision last week to increase the minimum lobster carapace size in Lobster Fishing Area 25. The Maritime Fishermen’s Union in New Brunswick can claim to be the winner, in that it had been lobbying for an increase, while the Prince County Fishermen’s Association in P.E.I. is taking the loss as it had been arguing in favour of leaving the size limit unchanged. Read the rest here 12:15
Survival of local fleets, communities – Maritime Fishermen’s Union supports DFO owner/operator and fleet separation policies.
The Maritime Fishermen’s Union 
(MFU) has been pushing for stricter enforcement of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans owner operator and fleet separation policies. Squires said that in order for fishermen to get a fair price, there needs to be competition at the wharf level for the purchase of their fish. “If a fish buying company owns the fishing boats, the buying stations and the processing facilities, they have no reason to pay a good price at the wharf level — they just make their profit somewhere along the line.” Read the rest here 08:36
N.S. fishermen happy with Ottawa’s promise to protect independent licenses
Members of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union are pleased that Fisheries and Oceans Canada will begin enforcing a policy that would prevent a corporate takeover of inshore fishing licences. Graeme Gawn, union president for Local 9 in southwestern Nova Scotia, said the federal department announced in late July a tightening of its policy to preserve independence of the inshore fleet in Atlantic Canada’s fisheries. “In our area is where it’s the biggest issue,” Gawn said Tuesday. “We’re facing companies buying up lobster licences, in particular, under questionable agreements.” Read the rest here 22:57
Fishermen need better life-jacket designs, union says,
The head of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union says the industry should design better life-jackets for fishermen if it wants them to wear them. Christian Brun, the MFU’s executive secretary, was responding to the Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations Thursday in a report into the sinking of the Marie J in northeastern New Brunswick in May 2013. Read the rest here 12:02
Gilles Thériault says New Brunswick should look to systems used in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador
“Clearly, from what we’re seeing in New Brunswick today, the status quo is certainly not working,” Thériault said. “That’s why I’m a bit disappointed and I believe that both the fishers and the processors should give this matter more thought.” Neither the Maritime Fishermen’s Union nor the Maritime fish processors say they are interested in such a method. Read more here 11:29
Wording puts Canada at odds with UN fish plan – calls for the protection of fishermen “in situations of occupation,”
A United Nations-sponsored proposal to protect and promote small-scale fisheries has run into a problem, with Canada emerging as the lone dissenting voice in a dispute that may have a connection to policy on the Middle East. Read more here 10:37
PEI fall lobster fishermen remain opposed to further carapace increases
The PCFA strongly resisted a push last year from the Maritime Fishermen’s Union to have the minimum carapace measure increased to 77 mm by 2015. There was a one mm increase in minimum carapace size last year, moving it to 72 mm, and that is where the P.E.I. fishermen insisted it should remain. journalpioneer.com Read more here 10:27
Maritime Fishermen’s Union Local 4 buys life jackets for fishermen
sou’wester – The province’s fishing industry is working on becoming safer, with more fishermen recognizing the importance and comfort of state-of-the-art life jackets. To aid this effort the Maritime Fishermen’s Union Local 4 recently pu
rchased life jackets for its 40 members in Antigonish and Pictou counties. continued Fishermen blocking ports in PEI continued
