Earlier this week, OCI’s “Vice President of Sustainability” Carey Bonnell was on the news purporting all the good the offshore fishery does for our province. It’s a desperate attempt by offshore companies to soften the blow that came late last month when the federal government announced they were ending the moratorium to allow offshore draggers back into the fishery.
Fish harvesters, scientists, ENGOs, current and former politicians (including Premier Andrew Furey), and concerned citizens alike are sounding the alarm on the decision. Why? By lifting the 32-year moratorium on commercial fishing on June 26, 2024, the Government of Canada is further corporatizing public resources, harming the economic and environmental sustainability of coastal Newfoundland and Labrador, and breaking a decades-long promise to the province.
I would ask Bonnell or one of the OCI Sullivans to explicitly state just how much Northern cod they plan to land and process in Newfoundland and Labrador, because historically it’s little to none. OCI must also answer to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians: What plans are in place to retrofit existing processing plants like Bonavista, Triton, Fortune, and St. Lawrence; to give these plant workers more than just a dozen weeks at snow crab each year? Moreover, why are plants like OCI increasing the number of temporary foreign workers each year rather than finding ways to recruit and retain local workforce? Because long-term coastal sustainability is not conducive with offshore factory draggers.
It's a simple fact that the inshore fishery does far more for the economic sustainability of our province than do offshore, factory-freezer trawlers. 10,000 owner-operator harvesters and crew members live and work in our province – making a living in the fishery, landing their product here to be processed here, spending their money here, and raising their families here.
Plant workers would love to do the same – but for many, especially young families, the industry is not financially sustainable. As it stands, most plant workers are hardly able to get enough weeks of work to qualify for seasonal employment insurance. Perhaps Mr. Bonnell should focus on the sustainability of OCI’s provincial workforce.
The call for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reinstate the Northern Cod Stewardship Fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador and reaffirm the 115,000mt commitment to protect the inshore fishery is critical to the future of our province.
We’re experiencing a federal blunder of epic proportions that is not only legally questionable, it also flies in the face of the federal Fisheries Act and DFO’s mandate. The offshore lobby is certainly strong and it’s clear Diane Lebouthillier is easily influenced by deep pockets.
The 115,000mt commitment is historically referenced dozens of times; as recently as in the 2021 management plan for 2J3KL Groundfish, by Dominic Leblanc in 2016, in a 2015 letter from Justin Trudeau, and as early as 1977 through 1982 with the Kirby Report and then-Fisheries Minister, Romeo Leblanc.
Specifically, the promise was that the first 115,000mt of 2J3KL Northern cod quota would be allocated only to inshore and Indigenous groups, before corporate offshore dragger groups gained access. This was to reflect the economic, historical, and cultural dependency the inshore fleet has on the Northern cod.
Instead, at a total harvest amount of just ~19,000mt, Canadian and international offshore draggers are being permitted access to harvest Northern cod.
Historic overfishing by offshore draggers was a primary factor that contributed to the collapse of cod, and their preference to fish on pre-spawning aggregations is gravely concerning to those working towards the recovery of the culturally significant species.
This federal decision must be reversed before the 2024 Northern cod fishing season commences. A true show of sustainable oceans management would be for immediate reinstatement of the Northern Cod Stewardship Fishery with the same conditions as 2023, until such time the stock has rebuilt enough to meet the 115,000mt commitment.
Only once this threshold has been met should there be consultation for Canadian and international offshore allocations.
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