Tag Archives: United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union
Ottawa leaving West Coast fishing sector to flounder after salmon closures
The West Coast fishing sector is being hung out to dry and deserves a just transition like other climate-affected industries after the federal government put in widespread closures to the salmon fishery last year, the fish harvesters union says. Boat captains, crews, and shore workers are suffering dire economic hardship with zero emergency or transitional supports after the ministry of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) closed 79 salmon fisheries last June, said James Lawson, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union. >click to read< 14:15
Fishery Closures and the Ghosts of Past Mistakes
The news spread quickly across the calm June waters off the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, as fishers jumped on the radio to figure out what had just happened. The radio chatter was incessant as fishers wondered aloud where they’d be allowed to fish, if they would be out of business, and what the future would hold. “Everyone was freaking out because all of those questions were unanswered,” Christian says, adding this policy will likely end British Columbia’s commercial salmon industry.,, Under the PSSI, DFO plans to close 57 percent of the 138 Pacific salmon fisheries along the west coast of British Columbia and Yukon. >click to read< 10:06
DFO Fishery Closures – ‘radical course of action’ will devastate salmon harvesters and coastal communities
A coalition of 13 members partnered in the media statement issued by UFAWU, decried the Department of Oceans and Fisheries (DFO) announcement of closures as “a radical course of action to combat the salmon crisis,”. “Many harvesters were freshly geared up, fees paid and deckhands aboard, heading their vessels to the salmon openings they were told to expect,,, “These closures will devastate salmon, harvesters, and coastal communities alike. The only gain will be the political favour of those who’ve been fooled into thinking this is the answer to the salmon crisis,” UFAWU stated >click to read< 14:29
British Columbia: Prawn harvesters furious over DFO ‘tubbing’ ban – “Why are they reinventing the wheel?”
For decades harvesters in remote locations have flash-frozen one-pound tubs of a couple-dozen prawns in native sea water,,, This week Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the practice of tubbing will be prohibited, as the block of ice prevents DFO inspectors from having ready access to the prawns inside.,, “Prawn harvesters have been using this method to store their catch for more than 50 years. “It would be just horrible for us,” said Prince Rupert prawn harvester Peter Haugen. “Why are they reinventing the wheel?” >click to read< 13:06
Commercial fishermen on Canada’s west coast say it’s the worst season they’ve ever experienced.
According to Joy Thorkelson, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, at least 2,500 people are affected by the record low numbers of salmon. Catches have been far below normal and some fishermen simply haven’t fished at all this season.,,, Reasons for the low salmon returns along the B.C. coast are being cited as climate change, habitat destruction, and overfishing. But, they never mention waste (click) water treatment,,, >click to read< 13:29
‘They’re flat broke’: Salmon fishermen demand disaster relief for failed season
The Pacific Salmon Commission is forecasting a total return of only 447,000 sockeye salmon to the Fraser, one of the world’s richest salmon rivers, this year. “This is the lowest run size ever estimated since estimates began in 1893, and lower than the previous record for lowest run size of 858,000 observed in 2016,” its report read.,, “Many of them are in debt because they got the boat and gear ready for the season and they [invested] quite heavily in doing that. And then they put fuel in their boats and went to the fishing grounds and then caught nothing.” >click to read< 15:24
North Coast leaders celebrate report’s focus on independent fishers
North coast leaders are calling the sweeping recommendations of a Parliamentary committee a win for independent fishers. The all-party Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans released its study on the state of the West Coast fisheries May 7, recommending numerous changes to the Fisheries Act that aim is to lower financial barriers for those wanting to enter the profession, and limiting the number of licences held by any single group.,,, Bill C-68, adopted in June of last year, paved the way for an overhaul of the Fisheries Act, whereby the ministry considers not only ecology in its decisions, but the social and economic impacts on the communities dependant on the fishery. >click to read<19:39
Employed or Self Employed?!! B.C. fishing company ordered to pay deckhand $15K despite confiscated catch
A B.C. fishing company has been ordered to pay one of its deckhands $14,846 even though fisheries officials seized most of the catch. The B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal recently dismissed the company’s appeal of the decision, which the director of employment standards made in July 2017, to pay deckhand Steve Hrad for a fishing trip off the B.C. coast last spring. Hrad had been hired by Lasota Fishing Ltd. — represented at the tribunal by Steve Lasota.,, “You’re not hired for a wage, you’re hired to share in the catch.,,, >click to read<12:18
Fish plant workers: stop gutting West Coast fishery
Specifically, United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union, were lobbying the parliamentary standing committee on fisheries and oceans to break what they describe as a monopoly held by Jim Pattison and his Canadian Fishing Co. (Canfisco) on fishing fleets, quotas and licences. They also want the government to restrict the practice of sending fish caught in B.C. for secondary processing to the U.S. or China. “The processing of fish that is owned by the people of Canada should benefit the people of Canada,” Arnie Nagey, a Haida citizen who worked as a millwright in Canfisco’s Prince Rupert cannery, told the committee June 7. “The boats should be owned by the people who fish them, not the company.” North coast fish plant workers want adjacency rules, which would require fish caught in Canadian waters to be processed in Canada. But that would likely trigger challenges under the North American Free Trade Agreement, said Rob Morley, Canfisco’s vice-president of product and corporate development. Read the rest here 13:37
North Coast Fishermen Voice Concerns About the Proposed Individual Transferable Quota System
The United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union’s president met with North Coast fishermen today, to discuss the proposed changes the DFO plans to make to the salmon fishery from an open fishery model to individual transferable quotas. And that is exactly what is on Bill Smiths mind… a fishermen of 37 years… who says the bottom line is, he won’t be able to afford a quota system. “I can’t afford to buy other licence and I really object to paying somebody else to fish a portion of their quota. What most strikes me about this whole process, is how undemocratic and how unscientific it is.”- Bill Smith, Northern Gillnetter Read more@cfktv 02:15
Fishermen in Prince Rupert say new monitoring requirements are too costly, DFO has a hidden agenda of ridding the coast of the commercial fishery
northernview.com – Fishermen from Prince Rupert and as far away as the Nass Valley claim they are being unfairly targeted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, claiming the DFO has a hidden agenda of ridding the coast of Fishermen from Prince Rupert. continued
