Fisheries Minister Presides Over Cod Stock Destruction

By Myles Higgins

So, if you live in Newfoundland or Labrador, did you actually make it out on the salt water over the past few of weeks to catch the 5 fish per day you have been permitted to take during August? Boy isn’t it grand how Ottawa has finally let us have access to the fish off our coast? Now we can catch enough for the odd meal or two before the season is over. I just hope they see fit to let us do it all over again a year from now and I believe they just might, if we are all really good and don’t do anything to "rock the boat" so to speak.

If you detected the strong smell of sarcasm in the previous paragraph you get an big ‘A’ for paying attention, if you didn’t, then you’re likely a member of the Canadian government. I mean come on folks, enough is enough, either the fish stocks are in trouble and need protection or they’re not, which is it?

On one hand we have the Fisheries Minister telling Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans over and over just how lucky they are to be able to get out on the water for a few days. Then, the next thing you know he’s all over the news warning everyone to be good little boys and girls and not to abuse this wonderful thing he’s done. No sir, you better not abuse this gift he’s bestowed by or you’ll lose it quicker than you can say, "Please pass the hard bread and water". After all everyone needs to do their part to protect this delicate species right? Wrong, apparently Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans are expected to do their part but not Ottawa itself and certainly not the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

While Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans are being made to feel like naughty little children, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is busy giving foreign fishers free reign in to catch tons of fish in the same waters. Just a few weeks ago Loyola Hearn announced that several North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) countries will be deploying patrol vessels off our shores in order to help Canada protect the area from illegal foreign fishing. How stupid does he think people are? Consider if you will that these patrol vessels will be sent from the very countries that have an estimated 100+ fishing boats plying those very waters daily, countries that subsidize those illegal fishing enterprises with hundreds of millions of dollars a year so they can afford to sail here and return to their home ports profitably.

In another bold move Minister Loyola Hearn proudly announced the creation of a blacklist for vessels and countries that are caught illegally fishing in the NAFO region. These countries will be denied access to ports and other sanctions may be taken against them if they are discovered breaking the law. Great news right, wrong again. Once again the announcement is little more than a bad case of the Ottawa spin doctors at their sleazy best.

The statement sounds great until you read the fine print. It’s there that you’ll discover that while the blacklist will impact some smaller offenders like the Dominican Republic, Cyprus and Panama, the list will not be used against vessels from NAFO member countries. Nations like Spain, Portugal, Iceland, and others, nations that are often considered the worst offenders in the area. Instead Canada will depend on the patrol vessels sent from these very countries to arrest their own people, charge them when they return to their home ports and ensure that they are convicted and punished by the very governments that are assisting them to fish here illegally.

Now, as if to add insult to injury and clearly prove once and for all exactly how stupid Ottawa believes the public is, local lawyer and columnist Averill Baker identified in a recent article that tender calls have gone out in the U.S. for fishing quotas off the Newfoundland coast.

Apparently these quotas will be available to U.S. fishers only (not Canadian and certainly not Newfoundland or Labrador fishers). They will include everything from redfish to squid, shrimp, to yellowtail flounder and hake to skate. Some of you may be thinking, "Well at least the government isn’t allowing them to catch cod", sorry, wrong again. When you consider that fishing vessels are permitted a certain level of by-catch based on their overall quota, the end result is that tons of cod fish will sail out of the area and wind up in U.S. processing plants. Not the 5 fish per person and not 15 fish per boat that locals have been granted the gift of taking from the water, but tons of cod fish and every ounce of it will be fully sanctioned by Ottawa.

Way to go Minister Hearn and well done all our representatives in Ottawa! What’s next, contracting Russian or British navy vessels to sink any Canadian fishing boats that might venture from port? Why not, you may as well just kill them outright rather than waiting for the slow death you’re currently presiding.

Atlantic & East Coast Report

August 19, 2006