Tag Archives: Ottawa
Union files petition in Ottawa to stop foreign ownership of fishing licences and quotas
The union representing commercial fishing industry workers has filed a petition with the House of Commons to put a formal end to further ownership or beneficial interest in Canadian licences and quotas by foreign interests. “If you’re a young entrant or been fishing for a long time and desire to become a owner-operator, you’re in direct competition from foreign interests,” said Orr. “In the socio-economic view on a broader scale, we’re already seeing the dismantlement of the infrastructure that supports the fishing industry on our coast. Fewer and fewer fish processing sites, fewer boat repair shops. >click to read< 08:56
Ottawa signs new deal to charter fishing boats for science surveys
The agreement with the Atlantic Groundfish Council, which represents the region’s largest seafood companies, allows DFO to charter industry vessels for two to six weeks a year for fisheries or ecosystem surveys in Atlantic Canada. “We’ve been distressed in the fishing industry for two or three years now because DFO research vessel surveys were not getting done,’ said Bruce Chapman, president of the Atlantic Groundfish Council. DFO scientists returned last week from the first mission under the new charter agreement. It was a two-week survey on Georges Bank aboard the Mersey Venture, a 58-metre factory freezer trawler owned by Nova Scotia seafood company Mersey Seafoods. The Mersey Venture gathered data used by both Canada and the United States to jointly manage trans-boundary haddock, cod and yellowtail flounder stocks on the shared fishing grounds. Photos, >click to read< 17:35
Search and rescue services must top Ottawa’s Labrador agenda
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, (SEA-NL) joins Indigenous leaders in expressing disappointment that search and rescue (SAR) services for Labrador are not Ottawa’s highest priority. “For as long as the entire Labrador coastline is void of a dedicated Canadian Coast Guard ship, and a dedicated Cormorant helicopter to carry out primary SAR missions, the issue must top all agendas,” says Merv Wiseman, a member of SEA-NL’s executive, and outspoken advocate for stronger SAR services. Labrador represents one of the largest geographical areas in Canada without a dedicated SAR air or maritime resource stationed in its region. >click to read< 13:57
Ottawa grants $4.5 million for Quebec’s fisheries sector
The federal government is granting $4.5 million for 47 projects related to the fishing industry on the the entire territory of Quebec. The Member of Parliament for Gaspésie and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Diane Lebouthillier, was in Rivière-au-Renard on Tuesday to make the announcement, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and Custody. coast, Joyce Murray. With these contributions, Fisheries and Oceans Canada aims to improve the efficiency, quality and sustainable development of the Quebec fishing industry. Projects outside the maritime sector, such as technical projects or research work relating to fishing, are also part of the funded projects. >click to read< 15:05
SEA-NL Calls for Crackdown on Foreign Overfishing
SEA-NL is calling on Ottawa to address foreign overfishing. The organization says the fact that a Faroese longliner with six accusations of fishing violations within the past year was allowed to return to fishing shows that the enforcement regime outside Canadian waters is a “horrible joke”. Executive Director Ryan Cleary says the joke is on Newfoundland and Labrador as it makes no difference if the province conserves commercial stocks in their own waters when fish who leave the 200 miles are being picked off by foreign vessels. >click to read< 09:02
Canada considers quota cut on commercial elver eel fishery to increase Mi’kmaw access
The federal government is considering cutting the commercial elver quota by 14 per cent this year to increase Mi’kmaw access to the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels. Ottawa has cancelled negotiations to buy out commercial licence holders. The bargaining was an attempt to make room for Indigenous participation without increasing fishing effort. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans notified the industry of its intentions late last month. In recent years, Mi’kmaw bands have been demanding a piece of the action. That has led to numerous riverside confrontations between Mik’maw, claiming a treaty right, and DFO officers. >click to read< 09:34 Nova
Ottawa, Mi’kmaq community on collision course over plan for second lobster season
The federal fisheries minister said today that enforcement officers will be in place in St. Mary’s Bay to “uphold the Fisheries Act” if Sipekne’katik fishers harvest lobster beginning on June 1. Bernadette Jordan’s comment came shortly before Chief Mike Sack held a news conference to say his band will operate a five-month season that will occur outside of the commercial season. Sack says the plan envisions 15 to 20 boats setting 1,500 traps, with a midsummer closure during the moulting and reproduction season and its own enforcement officials. >click to read< 14:18
Cost of Coast Guard ship nears $1B as questions mount over federal shipbuilding plan
The federal government has quietly revealed that it plans to pay nearly $1 billion to build a new ocean research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard whose original cost was supposed to be one-tenth that amount. The new cost estimate for the offshore oceanographic science vessel represents the latest blow to Ottawa’s multibillion-dollar plan to build new ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Coast Guard, first revealed more than a decade ago and beset by problems ever since. >click to read< 06:50
“Mixed Feelings”: Sipekne’katik chief says discussions with commercial fishers in Nova Scotia can wait
Responding to Ottawa’s decision to name Allister Surette as a facilitator in the dispute, Sipekne’katik Chief Mike Sack said he had “mixed feelings.” He said that while he was not fundamentally opposed to participating in the process, “right now, we’re not worried about that.” Surette, president and vice-chancellor of Université Sainte-Anne who has experience as a facilitator in fishery disputes, was named to the role on Friday. Surette said his work might lead to a resolution in the fishery dispute,,, Sack, however, maintained that the resolution lies in his band’s talks with the federal government, not with commercial fishers. >click to read< 16:00
Ottawa appoints special mediator in N.S. Indigenous lobster fisheries dispute
In a statement released late Friday, the government said former Nova Scotia MLA and cabinet minister Allister Surette will “communicate with and rebuild trust” between both sides in the weeks-long dispute that has turned violent in recent days. Surette was appointed by Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, who have both voiced Ottawa’s support for the Mi’kmaq fishers and the 1999 Marshal decision that their fishery is based on. “A peaceful resolution is achievable, and (Surette’s appointment) will strengthen our fisheries and our communities,” she added. >click to read< 09:41 From: Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Biograghy, Allister Surette, >click to read<
Newfoundland and Labrador calls on Ottawa to quash surf clam fishing licence
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is demanding Ottawa reverse its decision to award a lucrative Arctic surf clam fishing licence to a Nova Scotia company that says it has Indigenous partners from every Atlantic province and Quebec. Newfoundland Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne says the Five Nations Clam Company does not have any Indigenous partners from Newfoundland and Labrador, despite a federal statement that claims otherwise. >click to read< 15:44
FISH-NL recommends Ottawa cancel 2017 sentinel cod program
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) recommends that Ottawa cancel the 2017 sentinel cod program, a series of tests fisheries around the province first introduced when stocks were under moratoria. “The sentinel fisheries have become a waste of taxpayers’ money because the model was developed for the moratoria years, and the uncertainties in the data means it has little to no impact when it is used in the assessment model,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “It appears the catch data may have also been negatively impacted by the resumption of the commercial fisheries and other factors.” click here to read the press release 10:48
FISH-NL calls on Ottawa to reopen seal hunt by March 25th
Monday, March 20th, 2017 The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on Ottawa to reopen by March 25th the harp and hood seal hunt to all harvesters and all fleets in Newfoundland and Labrador. The federal government closed the hunt on March 15th to allow time for seal whelping and nursing, which will be all but wrapped up by the 25th. Sealers want to harvest the older seals then for their meat and high fat content (although the entire animal is utilized), but as more times passes, the animals lose their weight. Read the press release here, and support the seal hunt! 22:37
Atlantic Fisheries Fund: Atlantic Canada fish and seafood sector nets $325M from Ottawa
The funding, called the Atlantic Fisheries Fund, was announced Friday by Fisheries, Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard Minister Dominic LeBlanc. According to a release, the fund has a focus “to drive innovation” in the sector. In 2015, the landed value for Canada’s Atlantic commercial fisheries was $2.8 billion. “The numbers speak for themselves,” LeBlanc told reporters, adding 58,000 people in Atlantic Canada are employed in the fishing industry. The government will work with the Atlantic provinces to determine how the fund will work. LeBlanc said the money would be available to all Atlantic provinces to be used in the ways they need. Read the rest of the story here 12:12 $100M for N.L. in new fisheries innovation fund; CETA fund dead Read the story here 17:30
Canadian Federation of Independent Fish Harvesters – ‘Real change’ needed in fishery management
An advocacy group for fish harvesters across the country says the federal Liberal government needs to follow through on its election promises for people who fish for a living. Marc Allain, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Fish Harvesters, said that fishery management needs to be done by the people involved with the fishery. He added that it should be done on a regional basis and not by people in Ottawa with little knowledge of how the fishery operates. Read the article here 09:41
NO DEAL Ottowa- Minimum Processing Requirements ‘off the table’ in CETA spat
A dispute between the Newfoundland and Labrador government and Ottawa surrounding the Canadian European Union Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA) was reignited Tuesday, with the province saying it will not relinquish authority over minimum fish processing requirements, or MPRs. Darin King, Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development, said the decision is related to the federal government’s refusal to live up to an agreement reached in 2013 on the creation of a $400-million fisheries renewal fund, Read the rest here 17:40
Ottawa, partners to spend $7-million on Arctic fisheries research
Much of the money is to be spent over the next two years on Nunavut’s turbot fishery, which is worth about $65-million a year. Scientists are to consider how existing turbot harvests can be expanded and whether new locations can be added. They will also do surveys to help with managing the stock. Read the rest here 22:31
Still LOST? Ottawa, N.L. unsure who will pay UN tax on new oil finds – United Nations pact provides cash to developing countries from production beyond 200 miles
Neither Ottawa nor the Newfoundland and Labrador government can say who is on the hook for fees payable to the United Nations for new oil finds pumped beyond Canada’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone. more@cbcnews 10:06
