Tag Archives: Twillingate
Another nail in the coffin of Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishing villages
I realize for many years now, I am sounding like a broken record regarding my almost daily ritual of trying to persuade government officials, both provincially and federally, how the rules regarding fishing enterprise transfers are killing coastal communities. Our outport communities exist as fishing villages and we are in the eleventh hour of the existence of many simply because the fishers in those villages, strung around the coast, are in their sixties and seventies and their days on the water are numbered. >click to read< opinion by David Boyd 20:24
BREAKING – Caplin harvesters take over DFO office in Twillingate in protest
Upwards of 30 inshore harvesters took over the Fisheries and Oceans office in Twillingate this morning to protest the department’s failure to open the caplin fishery off Newfoundland’s northeast coast in fishing zone 3K. “We’ve taken over the building in a peaceful protest, but we’re not budging,” said Richard Gillett, a well-known Twillingate fisherman and one of the protesters. This will be updated >click to read< 10:45
The grim lesson of Little Bay Islands
I can remember traveling to Little Bay Islands in 1957 when I was 10 years old with my father on the MV Grace Boehner delivering flour and other freight. I marveled at how alive that community was. Boats going and coming in the harbour, wheelbarrows full of salted cod as they were pushed to the weights. Wheelbarrows full of Atlantic salmon. Seemed like hundreds of people working on the wharf. Children at play, singing and laughing. Now, this fishing outport community is beaten to its knees and voted to relocate because the loss of fish resources and the closure of its fish plant.>click to read by John Gillett, Inshore fisherman, Twillingate<14:55
Divers to refloat boat destroyed in fire, 65 feet of wharf lost to the flames
A team of divers is expected to get in the water in Twillingate Tuesday morning to refloat a longliner that burned and is now mostly submerged. The Sebastian Sails, known to many for the years it was featured on Discovery Canada’s TV show Cold Water Cowboys, was mostly underwater after catching fire on Monday morning. Just the ship’s bow was left above the surface. The fire on Monday also destroyed about 65 feet of the 300-foot wharf in Twillingate, according to Harbour Authority Master Gord Noseworthy. >click to read<10:44
Exploding seal population must be addressed
They say a picture is worth a thousand words here are just a few pictures taken by some people who live near or are always on the ocean every day that suitable. They, like me, can read the ocean. Right now the ocean is crying out for help from the packs of seals that have invaded ever crook and cranny on the shores. They are starving to death and eating everything in their path, these Harp seals should be in the artic by now but instead they are surrounding large shoals of herring and caplin, the food for cod and food for all things in the ocean, and keeping them in shoal water until everyone of them are eaten.How long is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans going to let this go on without addressing this problem? >click to read<19:51
There’s something wrong with cod
It will be another decade maybe, research shows, before harvesters can fish codfish commercially. It’s already been a quarter century since we’ve been able to fish cod commercially. Something is not right here. There has been ample time for cod to be back to commercial status with the minimum amount of cod that has been taken out of the system by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Why aren’t the cod stocks improving? Is it because of predators of cod and cod larvae, or is it due to seismic work for oil that is killing the food of cod and cod larvae? Is it poor science on cod stocks, and they really don’t know what’s out there? Is it because of foreign overfishing,,, click here to read the story 20:21
Twillingate fisherman ready to sell cod, but no one is buying
John Gillett is ready to start landing cod, but no one is buying. “I didn’t sell either cod fish in July and (as of Aug. 11) I haven’t got one sold yet,” he said. “I was told processors are dragging their feet on purchasing cod because capelin and turbot are coming into the plants at the same time. There is a shortage of workers, also a shortage of fish tubs to hold the cod. But with more than 40 ground fish processing licenses in the province, Gillett wants to know why only a few are processing cod.,,, “I really don’t think the provincial and federal governments want a successful inshore fishery. It’s a form of resettlement, because in the outports, what is there other than the fishery?” click here to read the story 17:22
Twillingate fishery stuck in ice, shrimp plant future uncertain
A pair of dark clouds loom over the fishery in Twillingate, and good weather might improve only one of them. Long-lasting sea ice has put a chill on traffic at the town’s wharf, meaning less work for dockhands and a slump at the town’s grocery stores. That ice might also be part of the reason why plant workers are still searching for answers about their shrimp processor. The town hasn’t seen ice last this long for decades, according to Gord Noseworthy, mayor and harbour master. “This time last year, where all your boats is coming and going, you looked up there and there was eight and nine tractor trailers out there at a time, all taking full loads and going.” The town’s grocery stores, oil companies and liquor store have also been feeling the pinch,,, the future of the shrimp plant is not so certain. click here to read the story 17:27
Pack ice having huge impact on Twillingate economic activity
Harbourmaster Gord Noseworthy shakes his head as he describes the situation. “Nothing is getting landed. I have been working here for 21 years and I’ve never seen it like this.” He looks over at the boats tied up at the wharf and explains the ripple effect the ice has on the small outport community. “It is not just the boats and their crews that are being affected,” he said. “We have 50 to 60 people that load and unload the boats that aren’t working. These workers probably won’t get enough to qualify for EI. The crab that is usually landed here is being sent to places like Harbour Grace and Catalina. Not a single seal came onto our dock this year,” Noseworthy said,,, Lobster fisherman Hardy Troake is looking at a seriously depleted season. “Lobster season was supposed to have opened May 7,” he told the Pilot Friday. “It was then delayed until the 13th and look now; we still haven’t been able to get out.” Click here to read the story 11:16
Fishermen never wanted a big brother – John Gillett, inshore fisherman, Twillingate
Our fishing and sealing industries mean a lot to us. We never looked to government or wanted the Canadian government to be a big brother to us. Mother Nature was our enforcer until the Department of Fisheries came along with its heavy hand that sent our culture in a downward spin. They gave permits to offshore draggers foreign and domestic to reap the spawning grounds in winter while the majority of fish harvesters were onshore in the winter mending gear and repairing or building boats to catch the returning fish coming from the offshore in the spring and summer. They put in place licence conditions that only a Philadelphia lawyer could understand. Read the letter here 08:46
