St. John’s – Late Friday afternoon, as most Canadians were already enjoying their long weekend, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard quietly announced a decision that left many harvesters, plant workers and their families in a cloud of uncertainty.
The Minister made the concerning decision to open the 3Ps Cod fishery only to the inshore/seasonal harvesters. Plant workers, and year-round offshore harvesters whose long-standing quota share is only 14% of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC), were left hanging in the balance, unsure of when, or if, the Minister will open their fishery.
“At risk, is year-round employment and job stability for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,” explains Kris Vascotto, Executive Director of the Groundfish Enterprise Allocation Council (GEAC). “More specifically, over 2,300 days of work for harvesters and an additional 12,000 days of employment of plant workers is up in the air because of this decision.”
“Although the quota held by the offshore harvesters accounts for only 14% of the TAC, this quota is critical for the viability of the Arnold’s Cove plant, especially during the months of the year when the vast majority of cod needed to keep our 200 employees employed is landed by the offshore sector,” explains Alberto Wareham, President of Icewater Seafoods. “If the Minister doesn’t permit year-round harvesters in this province to catch their share, the plant will have no alternative but to suspend operations. This comes at a time when we desperately need this supply to contribute to our viability and supply important international customers.”
Following the 2015 election, representatives of the Liberal Party stated their commitment to the plant in Arnold’s Cove. In March of this year, Minister Foote visited the plant on behalf of the Government of Canada and restated that her government did not want to see anything happen to negatively impact its operations. Workers believed the government understood the plant’s dependence on offshore fish.
Melvin Lockyer, Local FFAW Union President in Arnold’s Cove stressed that dependence on offshore fish, “Our future in the Arnold’s Cove plant relies on a balanced offshore and inshore fishery. From November through the end of the directed fishing season in 3Ps, our plant has relied on cod landed by larger vessels for as long as I can remember.”
“We support action to reduce the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) drastically in order to rebuild this cod stock.” continued Vascotto. “However, we can’t understand why the year-round harvesters would not be permitted to harvest their own share of this reduced TAC.”
The irony is that while local, family-owned companies and harvesters from rural Newfoundland and Labrador are uncertain whether the Minister will allow them to make a living from their own share of the reduced TAC, foreign vessels will continue to harvest 3Ps cod in 2017.
“Ocean Choice is a family-owned company providing good-paying jobs to over 1,700 people in many rural communities of this province. Not opening 3Ps cod for our vessels would jeopardise many of these jobs for people who have relied on this fishery for generations,” added Martin Sullivan, CEO of Ocean Choice International (OCI). “We want to contribute to the struggling economy of rural Newfoundland-and Labrador by working cooperatively to develop a more viable fishery and strengthen the middle-class in this province. While we expect fluctuations in the total allowable catch, how can we invest in the future of our business and provide secure jobs for our employees when inexplicable decisions to withhold access to our fishing quotas can so quickly undercut us?”
“I have to wonder if the provincial and federal governments understand how important the offshore fishery is to our families and our communities,” asks Kyle Snook of Harbour Breton, a Mate on the Ocean Breaker. “Year-round, good paying jobs are difficult to find in rural Newfoundland. We need our governments to protect our jobs, not put them in jeopardy.”
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Media Contact:
Sarah Fleming
709.725.5830
sarah@covepublicaffairs.ca