Corporate Concentration – Crisis in Our Fishery
FFAW-Unifor’s Corporate Concentration video series is intended to give important education about the scope of the impact Corporate Concentration and controlling agreements has had on Newfoundland and Labrador’s inshore fishery, the implication of controlling agreements, and what the next provincial government can do to protect our coastal communities:
Corporate Concentration: Crisis In Our Fishery Part 1 – Corporate Concentration and the Royal Greenland Deal
Corporate Concentration: Crisis In Our Fishery Part 2 – Corporate Concentration and Controlling Agreements
Corporate Concentration: Crisis In Our Fishery Part 3 – Corporate Concentration and What Happens Next
Click HERE to read our recommendations to protect and promote our inshore fishery with A Blue Economy For Newfoundland and Labrador (June 2020).
Click HERE to read our Corporate Concentration submission to the Fish Processing Licensing Board (July 2020).
Corporate Concentration and how it has caused a crisis in our fishery:
Corporate Concentration refers to the extent to which a small number of enterprises account for a large proportion of economic activity such as total sales, assets or employment. Less corporate concentration in the fishery and more processing licenses in the hands of different companies will create competition and attract investment in the industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. Corporate concentration in the fishery is nothing new, but many may not realize why this fight is so important for the province and its coastal communities.
We are calling on harvesters to join us in lobbying new government to acknowledge that long-term sustainability in the fishing sector needs less corporate concentration, more processing licenses in the hands of different companies, and more outside competition. For years, FFAW has been vocal about a corporate monopoly that is hurting rural Newfoundland and Labrador and robbed the fishery of the flexibly and innovation that it needs. It is time for a provincial government to commit to our recommendation to enact regulations that mirror the purpose of the new federal Owner-Operator and Fleet Separation regulations.
Processing companies control a greater share of the inshore fishery with every year that passes and they are not held to account. The impact has been terrible for the fishery – the price of licenses is incredibly inflated, creating significant barriers for new entrants. The pervasiveness of controlling agreements is setting up an environment whereby the next generation of harvesters will not see the benefits of owner-operator and processing companies will control the plants and the quota in the ocean.