FFAW Responds to Remarks Made By Atlantic Groundfish Council

Sylvia Lapointe, President of the Atlantic Groundfish Council was quoted that the there was “misleading information in the public domain” and that the longstanding commitment for the first 115,000t of Northern cod to be allocated to inshore harvesters and Indigenous groups in Newfoundland and Labrador was never “exclusive access to the Northern cod fishery by the inshore.”

However, the September 19, 2015, letter issued to the FFAW by the Liberal Party of Canada clearly indicates this priority access:

A Trudeau-led Liberal government will re-affirm the federal commitment to allocate the first 115,000 MT of northern cod quota to the inshore harvesters so that, as the resource rebounds, the benefits of a future cod fishery flow to the inshore harvesters and coastal communities.

The Liberal Party of Canada knows that we must be diligent and ensure that a resource rebound is real and sustainable, but when the stock achieves the proper threshold, we are committed to the policy that the first 115,000 MT will go to the inshore fleet.

We understand the fundamental importance of the cod fishery to Newfoundland and Labrador, and the importance of this commitment after the devastating effects of the cod collapse, which saw the largest layoffs in Canadian history. We must ensure that the future benefits of the cod fishery flow to the inshore harvesters and coastal communities, with spinoff benefits throughout the province.

“Almost 32 years to the day of the cod moratorium the federal government has welcomed offshore draggers back to repeat history,” said FFAW-Unifor President Greg Pretty. “Ms. Lapointe is nothing but an apologist for the offshore for devastating the stock in the first place. She’s essentially told inshore harvesters to shove off and that should incense every Newfoundlander and Labradorian, not only inshore fish harvesters.”

The Atlantic Groundfish Council represent several offshore companies in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, including Clearwater Seafoods and Ocean Choice International – Companies that have secured a significant share of the emerging Unit 1 redfish fishery, and now have access to Northern cod. Catch rates in the offshore trawler fishery were the last to drop prior to the collapse in the 1990’s because they were fishing on pre-spawning and spawning aggregations, trouncing the remnant of the Northern cod stock. Reopening an offshore fishery as soon as the stock enters the Cautious Zone is a grave mistake as it places the resource under fierce fishing pressure once again as it continues to rebuild.

“A responsible and balanced decision would be for Northern cod to remain a stewardship fishery. The federal Liberals, including the elected NL Members of Parliament, have done our province an incredible disservice. The offshore is the largest quota holder for fisheries in Canada, and they have achieved that by making sure that significant decisions continue to be guided by capital and not by science, sustainability, or integrity. The 115,000t commitment was symbolic of the relationship that the Government of Canada has with our industry, our Union, and our province. To save that relationship, we have to see an immediate reinstatement of the 2023 Northern Cod fishery rules and harvest amounts,” Pretty concluded.