FISH-NL calls on Ottawa for ice compensation for west coast harvesters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 23rd, 2019

The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) is calling on Ottawa to extend EI benefits for fish harvesters on Newfoundland’s west coast impacted by severe ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

“Some harvesters and their families are having a hard time of it. The heavy ice means they can’t go fishing, and the wolf is beating at the door,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL, in calling for ice compensation in the form of an EI extension.

The EI benefits of some harvesters ran out two weeks ago, with no let up in sight of the severe ice conditions that are keeping fishing boats tied to the wharf. The ice conditions have forced DFO to delay the start of the lobster fishery in the Gulf, and many harvesters haven’t been able to set their crab gear.

“Everyone needs fishermen to keep the industry moving,” says Boyd Lavers, a fishermen from Port Saunders and Captain of FISH-NL’s Over 40 fleet. “But if the fishermen can’t get on the water there must be help for them, too. We have to make sure harvesters stick around for when the fishery is ready to start.”

Contact Ryan Cleary: 682 4862

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The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

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