Tag Archives: SEA-NL
SEA-NL advises Ottawa to increase northern cod harvest, but not to lift ’92 moratorium
April 30th, 2024 – Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) has called on Ottawa to increase the 2024 northern cod harvest, but under a continued inshore stewardship fishery that bans offshore factory-freezer trawlers. “Lifting the moratorium and restarting a full-fledged commercial fishery for northern cod will open the gates to offshore draggers, foreign and domestic, which the stock is not ready for,” says SEA-NL President Bruce Layman, a Carbonear-based inshore fisherman. The debate on whether to lift the moratorium and restart a commercial fishery has picked up since last fall when DFO introduced a new assessment model that elevated the stock’s scientific status to “cautious” from the “critical” zone. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:02
New fishery co-op partners with Dandy Dan
Organizers of a fishery co-operative being formed to represent inshore enterprise owners have agreed to a letter of intent with Dan Meade to sell fish to the Ship Harbour-based processor. Under terms of the agreement, a new fish processing company will be formed that will see the future co-op earn an equity stake in exchange for a pledge to sell at least two million pounds of snow crab a year to the business. “The letter of intent brings the inshore fleet a step closer to breaking itself free from the company cartel,” says co-op organizer/spokesman Ryan Cleary, Executive Director of SEA-NL. Meade sees the partnership as an historic opportunity to rebuild trust with inshore harvesters. “I want to be part of that rebuilding process.” more, >>click to read<< 08:49
SEA-NL to Become For-Profit Fishery Co-operative
The Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is looking to change the structure of the organization. SEA-NL has voted in favour of turning the organization into a for-profit fishery co-operative. It had previously been operating as a non-profit professional association. Executive Director Ryan Cleary says while Labrador’s industry is thriving under the co-op structure, Newfoundland’s is struggling under its current structure, so they are launching a steering committee to see what a co-op should look like on the island. >>click to read<< 11:46 >>click to read<< 11:55
Canadian Coast Guard ‘rolling the dice’ with offshore search and rescue coverage: SEA-NL
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says the Canadian Coast Guard is rolling the dice with maritime safety with only a single primary offshore search and rescue (SAR) vessel dedicated to covering the province’s entire offshore area. “In a maritime environment where every minute could be the difference between life and death in SAR incidents, there is no room for any compromise in response capabilities,” says Merv Wiseman, a member of SEA-NL’s executive, and outspoken advocate for stronger SAR services and fishing-vessel safety. “My question is not just why SAR standards have been lowered, but for how long and whether this is the new normal? >>click to read<< 15:56
DFO investigates fishing licences for outside control
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) encourages inshore owner-operators who have lost control of their commercial licences or fishing enterprise to contact Fisheries and Oceans, which is actively investigating several cases. “If you are not in control of your boat or licences then contact DFO and have it looked into and made right,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “By law, licensed inshore harvesters must be independent — solely in control of their enterprises, licences, and catches — and if you are not then SEA-NL encourages you to take control.” >>click to read<< 08:45
‘Unacceptable sacrifice’ – Ottawa extends mackerel moratorium when U.S. continues to fish same stock
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says a decision by federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray to extend the moratorium on mackerel fishing in Canadian waters is an unacceptable sacrifice when the United States continues to fish the same stock. “How foolish is that?” questions Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “DFO science is questionable at best, and now without mackerel fishermen on the water again this year there will be even less data.” The federal Minister announced Wednesday a continuation of the 2022 closure of commercial and bait fishing for mackerel in Atlantic Canada and Quebec for the 2023 season. Fishing mackerel for food and ceremonial fisheries will remain open. >click to read< 15:55
Conservation must trump profit; SEA-NL calls on DFO to close window on high-grading in crab fishery
Seaward Enterprises Associations of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) has called on the federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans to take immediate action to close a window that’s been opened by processors/buyers to allow for high-grading in the snow crab fishery. “Conservation must trump profit, which is obviously not the case with the processing sector that is out to scrape every last cent from the inshore fleet at the expense of the future health of the stock,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. For years there has been an industry-managed two-price system for snow crab in Newfoundland and Labrador — with a higher price paid for crab with a greater than four-inch carapace (currently $2.25/lb), and lower price for smaller, but still legal-sized crab ($1.90/lb). >click to read< 11:07
N.L. inshore crab boats accuse Royal Greenland of giving them the cold shoulder
In a crab fishing season that has been contentious from the start, allegations continue to be levelled by Newfoundland and Labrador fish harvesters against processing companies. The latest accusation is against Royal Greenland, the Danish-owned company that owns three processing plants in the province. A handful of harvesters took to social media in recent days, posting on the Fishermen’s Forum Facebook Page, that Royal Greenland has been refusing to buy crab from some boats in the under 40 ft fleet. However, Simon Jarding, manager of Royal Greenland operations in Newfoundland and Labrador, says those allegations are not accurate. >click to read< 12:21
Trouble brewing if Royal Greenland doesn’t start buying crab from under 40’ fleet: SEA-NL
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says enterprise owners in the under 40’ fleet warn there will be trouble if Quin-Sea/Royal Greenland doesn’t start buying snow crab from them, and processing companies are not reined in. “Forget tie-up, someone could be strung up,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “The 2023 crab dispute is not over yet, and tensions will boil over unless the union stands up for its members, and the provincial government supports small-boat fishermen against the foreign country trying to drive them under.” >click to read press release< 07:26
SEA-NL relaunches Pot to Plate; public encouraged to buy snow crab from inshore boats at the wharf
SEA-NL has relaunched its Pot to Plate program to connect inshore boats directly with the public interested in buying snow crab for personal consumption. “Pot to Plate won’t take a dent out of this year’s 121 million/lb crab quota — that’s not what the program is about,” says Pam Patten, a Fortune-based inshore enterprise owner and President of SEA-NL. “Pot to Plate will help build local markets around the province, reintroduce our people to buying seafood at the wharf, and put some cash in the pockets of the inshore fleet — particularly smaller boats,” Patten adds. SEA-NL announced Pot to Plate on April 4th, but the program was immediately delayed due to the snow crab tie-up, which ended on May 19th. >click to read< 11:57
Pretty over his head: FFAW leader unaware inshore fishery excluded from Competition Act
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says the president of the FFAW-Unifor is over his head in calling for the Competition Bureau of Canada to investigate the inshore fishery when much of the sector is excluded from the act. “It’s shocking that Greg Pretty doesn’t know that the only industry in Canada that’s pretty much excluded from the federal Competition Act is the inshore fishery,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “It’s no wonder the six-week tie-up has been such a circus with nothing to show for it.” Only fish pricing in this province is excluded from the Federal Competition Act. SEA-NL wrote Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in May 2022 (letter below) to request that then-proposed amendments to the Competition Act (which were to tackle anti-competitive conspiracies between competitors that hurt workers) include fish pricing. >click to read< with the letter. 20:35
SAR air base for Labrador
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) congratulates board member Merv Wiseman for spearheading a resolution approved this past weekend by the Liberal Party of Canada to designate a search and rescue (SAR) air base for Labrador. “Labrador is one step closer to having 5-Wing Goose Bay designated a SAR air base that will save lives,” says Wiseman, a member of SEA-NL’s executive, and outspoken advocate for stronger SAR services and fishing-vessel safety. Passed unanimously on May 6th during the Liberal Party of Canada’s national convention in Ottawa, the resolution urges the federal government to immediately designate 5-Wing Goose Bay as a SAR air base, which would include stationing one of the military’s Cormorant SAR helicopters there. >click to read< 11:31
Shrimp boats held hostage – SEA-NL demands province intervene in northern shrimp ‘hostage situation’
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the provincial government immediately intervene in the case of two shrimp boats from Port au Choix that are being denied ice from local supplies because they plan to sell their catches in New Brunswick. “Make no mistake these shrimp boats are being held hostage at the wharf by the local buyer who refuses to let them go,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “The province must investigate immediately, and I’ll be writing a letter to that effect today to Premier Andrew Furey.” Fishermen Barry Plowman and Calvin Gould, owner-operators of the 65 footers Challenger 88 and Nightbreaker, have been geared up at the wharf in Port au Choix since Thursday ready to start fishing shrimp in the Gulf. >click to read< 11:15
SEA-NL demands province order ‘serious,’ sweeping review of fish-price setting system
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the provincial government order a “serious” and sweeping investigation into the broken fish price-setting system after last year’s token review failed to fix it. “This province’s three largest commercial fisheries — snow crab, northern shrimp, and lobster — are all in chaos this season, and two of them for the second year in a row,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “It’s obvious that last year’s lightning fast, three-month review of the price-setting system — a review that didn’t even bother to consult with inshore enterprise owners — was a token attempt at reform by a government unwilling and unprepared to act.” >click to read< 20:09
More cracks appear in government-controlled fish-pricing system; SEA-NL demands review of lobster-pricing formula
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the province review the way lobster is priced to the inshore fleet to determine whether enterprise owners are getting a fair market share. “The lobster-pricing formula pays fishermen as if their catch is being sold in the spring when the lobster may be kept in holding tanks and sold in the fall for much higher prices,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “An independent review will tell owner-operators whether they’re getting a fair market share for their lobster catches, because indications are they are not and the lobster-pricing formula is obsolete.” >click to read the press release< 10:59
SEA-NL launches province-wide petition for review of obstacles to becoming inshore enterprise owner
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is circulating a province wide petition calling on the provincial government to undertake public consultations on the obstacles to becoming an inshore enterprise owner. “Anyone can fish, but not anyone can become a licensed small-boat owner-operator,” says Pam Patten, President of SEA-NL, and a Fortune-based inshore owner-operator. “The time and cost of acquiring a fishing enterprise is out of reach for too many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and the inshore fleet and rural communities are fading faster because of it.”The paper petition calls on the provincial government to undertake province-wide consultations on the impediments to becoming an inshore enterprise owner. >click to read<
‘This catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium’: Newfoundland crab fleets won’t fish for $2.20 a pound, FFAW is considering ‘political actions’
They’re not going to fish. That’s the promise from crab fleets in Newfoundland and Labrador Thursday, April 6, after the Fish Price Setting panel announced its decision on snow crab prices to start the season. The panel chose the offer of $2.20 a pound submitted by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP), a 10 cent increase from their initial offer. The Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) negotiating committee had suggested $3.10, lowering their original offer of $3.48. In a news release Thursday afternoon, FFAW president Greg Pretty said the decision by the panel, “has put our industry in the most precarious position it’s ever been in.” “When it comes to dollars and cents, this catastrophe rivals the cod moratorium,” he said, repeating words first spoken by inshore fish harvester Jason Sullivan during protests over quotas for the inshore fleet earlier this month in St. John’s. >click to read< 11:38
Pot-to-Plate – SEA-NL recommends $5-$6/lb wharf price for crab to the general public
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) recommends its membership of inshore enterprise owners sell snow crab at the wharf to the general public for $5 or $6/lb to start the season. “You won’t sell all your crab to the local market, but you will sell some for $5 or 6/lb — double the price to be set by the pricing panel, and a bargain to the public,” says Pam Patten, SEA-NL president and a Fortune-based inshore enterprise owner. “The extra money will help until the price of snow crab picks up in world markets, and at the same time the inshore fleet can build a local market for fresh seafood.” >click to read the press release< 12:34
SEA-NL on Pot to Plate, new program to sell crab at the wharf
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is encouraging the public to buy live fresh snow crab from inshore enterprises when they land at the wharf, and is preparing a “pot to plate” program to connect boats to buyers province-wide. “The 2023 snow crab price to start the season will be half what it was last year, and the lowest in years, which will hurt every last small-boat enterprise around the province,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “SEA-NL is asking the people of the province to step up and buy fresh live North Atlantic snow crab direct from our fishermen and women at a fair price at the wharf.” SEA-NL will consult with owner-operators around the province before recommending a “wharf price” to charge for snow crab and plans to announce a price Thursday. >click to read< 14:05 
SEA-NL on 3L
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador demands DFO immediately unify inshore and offshore snow crab fishing areas off eastern Newfoundland into a single biomass, and explain to the entire inshore fleet why the department divided them in the first place. “DFO disrespects the entire inshore sector in fishing zone 3L by favouring bigger boats over smaller boats in the same fleet,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “DFO must reveal the science behinds its decision to divide the crab fishing zone in the first place,” added Cleary. “The absence of science or questionable science at best tells smaller boat owner-operators the department wants their enterprises eliminated.” >click to read the press release< 08:12
SEA-NL calls on DFO to delay mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling on Fisheries and Oceans to delay the mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks (ELOGS) until concerns are addressed about the security of personal information and commercial catch data. “Red flags have been raised over the security of highly valuable catch data and personal information,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “The federal government must ensure Canadians that the country’s food supply is secure, commercial sensitive catch data will remain with owner-operators and fleets, and that individual privacy is protected.” >click to read< 1:14
SEA-NL elects new President, first woman leader of fisheries organization in province’s history
Fortune-based inshore enterprise owner Pamela Patten has been elected President of Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL), believed to be the first woman to lead a fisheries organization in the province’s history. “As a woman I will obviously bring a slightly different perspective to the table, but my role will be to unite owner-operators around the province regardless of fleet or gender,” says Patten, who runs the Bradley Venture, a 39’11 longliner that primarily fishes snow crab and lobster. >click to read< 14:22
Frustration to embarrassment to shame, patience lost with DFO science: SEA-NL
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says continued cancellations and delays of critical assessments that survey the health of major fish stocks like northern cod have turned Fisheries and Oceans science into a Canadian shame. “We’re past the point of frustration and embarrassment with DFO science; it’s now Canada’s shame,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. DFO’s science director for the province released a letter Thursday afternoon informing fishing industry representatives that the Canadian Coast Guard science ship Alfred Needler has been deemed “beyond repair” and decommissioned. >click to read< 09:01
SEA-NL calls on Ottawa to lift mackerel moratorium; at least match U.S. quota for 2023
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is calling on Fisheries and Oceans to lift the moratorium on Atlantic mackerel in 2023 and set a quota at least equal to the total allowable catch set this week by the United States. “It’s a senseless sacrifice for Canadian mackerel fishermen to remain under a moratorium when their U.S. cousins have never stopped fishing,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. The CBC reports that earlier this week the United States set the 2023 TAC for Atlantic mackerel at 3,639 tonnes, a 27% decrease from that country’s 2022 quota of 4,963 tonnes. Meanwhile, Canada slapped a moratorium on the same Atlantic mackerel stock last year, and Ottawa has yet to announced whether there will be a commercial fishery this year. >click to read the rest< 15:33
Elections and electronic logbooks; SEA-NL AGM set for Feb. 25th
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) has scheduled its first annual general meeting (AGM) for Saturday, Feb. 25th, at the Albatross Hotel in Gander, and will feature an election for a new president and regional representatives. “Nominations open today for enterprise owners willing to step up for their fleets and the future of the inshore fishery,” says Ryan Cleary, Executive Director of SEA-NL. “The leaders we need must not be bought and paid for or out for themselves but focused on the overall health and direction of the inshore as a whole.” The election of a new SEA-NL president was trigged earlier this month with the resignation of Jason Sullivan, SEA-NL’s first president elected at the 2022 founding convention. >click to read< 08:37
SEA-NL condemns FFAW-Unifor election; union credibility spent
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) condemns the election Thursday of FFAW-Unifor president Greg Pretty, saying the corrupt process undermines faith in democracy, and the union’s ability to hold governments to account. “The election reeked of hypocrisy, and the FFAW’s credibility in this province has been spent,” says Merv Wiseman, a local expert on organizational governance and a member of SEA-NL’s board of directors. “The FFAW cannot hold the federal or provincial governments to account for fisheries management when the union’s own governance is a joke to the very industry it represents.” >click to read the rest< 14:37
‘Dark day for democracy’; FFAW rejects Jason Sullivan’s candidacy for president
Bay Bulls fisherman Jason Sullivan calls the rejection of his nomination for president of the FFAW-Unifor by the union’s election committee a dark day for democracy. “Some of those South American countries must be drooling at the FFAW election process,” said Sullivan, who was notified by e-mail of the rejection earlier today, two days before the scheduled Jan. 5th vote. Two candidates are left in the race — including FFAW staff-rep Greg Pretty, the leading candidate who was endorsed by the union executive board on Dec. 1, the same day former President Keith Sullivan unexpectedly resigned — and Dave Callahan, a west coast fisherman. >click to continue reading< 21:48
SEA-NL calls on Ottawa to lift moratorium on Atlantic mackerel
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is calling on Fisheries and Oceans Canada to lift the moratorium on Atlantic mackerel in 2023 and establish a quota at least equal to the United States. “DFO’s decision earlier this year to slap a moratorium on the Atlantic mackerel fishery while American fishermen continued to fish the same stock — combined with relatively weak science, and then even less data without fishermen on the water — was wrong from the get-go,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s executive director. >click to read< 12:48
Outgoing FFAW president denies conflict of interest over wife’s work with Nalcor
Keith Sullivan says his departure from the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union has nothing to do with allegations his wife was in a conflict of interest over a controversial agreement with scallop harvesters 10 years ago. Ryan Cleary, the most vocal critic of Sullivan throughout his tenure as FFAW-Unifor boss, posted an article on his blog Thursday evening that raised the allegations publicly for the first time. Cleary obtained documents through access-to-information requests that show Roseann Williams who is married to Sullivan, was part of a four-person negotiating team that worked opposite the FFAW in 2012 and 2013, while Sullivan was an assistant to the union’s president. The two sides negotiated a deal to compensate fish harvesters on the Northern Peninsula over the loss of valuable scallop fishing grounds to a subsea power cable laid by Nalcor Energy. >click to read< 10:03
SEA-NL congratulates provincial Liberal Party on World Fisheries Day
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador congratulates the provincial Liberal Party on World Fisheries Day for passing resolutions to have cod declared a heritage fish, a call for search and rescue resources for Labrador, and a review of the rules to become an inshore skipper. “It’s great to see the wild commercial fisheries on the political agenda of the ruling party,” says Ryan Cleary, Executive Director of SEA-NL. “The wild fisheries are what brought us here, and the wild fisheries will keep us here. That must never be forgotten.” >click to read the rest< 19:41
