While Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says enforcement officers are on active patrol, many in Atlantic Canada’s fishing industry aren’t buying it.
More than 50 fishing boats made the steam to St. Andrews, N.B. on Sept. 14 as part of a peaceful protest organized by the Fundy North Fishermen’s Association (FNFA), while hundreds of people lined the shoreline in support to protest what they describe as Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier’s continued mismanagement and failure to address critical issues in the industry.
“The protest comes in the wake of widespread frustration over the lack of enforcement on the water in LFA 36, a critical fishing zone for New Brunswick communities. It is also noted that the lack of enforcement in Southwest Nova Scotia has enabled a booming illegal lobster fishery,” said the association.
The protesters are demanding that Minister Lebouthillier acknowledge the mismanagement and publicly address the impact of her department’s mismanagement on both the fishery officers and licensed fishermen across the country; provide a solution by implementing an enforcement plan and restore order in the region by a specified deadline, or risk local fishermen taking matters into their own hands to patrol the waters; and resign from office.
“FNFA asserts that Minister Lebouthillier has failed to protect the sustainability and fairness of the Atlantic Canadian fishery and should step down immediately.”
Amanda Johnson, FNFA executive director, said the protest was really successful.
“We had an incredible crowd. We had over 50 boats in the harbour from every wharf in LFA 36, including three vessels from Saint Martin’s, which is an eight-hour steam from St. Andrews. I’m really happy with the turn out from the fishermen. We also had a lot of public support as well. We were joined by fishermen on the wharf that weren’t able to bring their boats and locals and tourists. I feel since we had such a large presence across the board, it really demonstrated the unity within our fishing community, and really highlighted how important this issue is to everyone, not just those that work on the water, but communities as a whole,” said Johnson.
In LFA 36, where the season was scheduled to open Nov. 12, Johnson said illegal lobster fishing activity has been on-going, primarily in the western end of the district, which borders the international line.
“There is quite a bit of Americans setting over that line in Canadian waters,” said Johnson. “The western end is very heavy with small and large islands” including Deer Island and Campobello Island “so it’s a lot easier to get away with setting illegal gear down there. The closer you get to Saint John and up the bay is a lot more open water, so boats would be way more visible setting up there. The western end is concentrated around that American line.”
As a follow-up to the protest, the FNFA plans to write Minister Lebouthillier “stating we can no longer wait for action. As a result of continued inaction to the issues we have brought to the Minister’s attention multiple times, the fishermen in my association are prepared to patrol their own waters to protect their livelihoods and also their resource in the absence of any enforcement that is meaningful or effective,” said Johnson.
The letter is calling on the minister to immediately act on three points, says Johnson.
“Reinstate regular officer patrols in all LFAs, not just ours, and to have that presence on the water because we feel they are putting out misleading statements saying there is active patrol in these areas in Southwest Nova Scotia and Southwest New Brunswick. They’re saying they are patrolling by land and by air. That’s utterly useless with how out of control this illegal fishing has gotten. If they’re not able to pull gear from the water and make arrests, it’s going to continue happening.”
Johnson said secondly, they are calling on the Minister to provide the fisheries officers with the necessary resources that support them and that they require to effectively and safely do their jobs.
“That is something we tried to highlight through this protest,” said Johnson. “While we want fisheries officers patrols reinstated, we also entirely support them and want them to have the resources that they need to do their jobs safely.”
Thirdly, the FNFA want the Minister to “publicly acknowledge the concerns we raised in protest and prior communication and work with us, the industry, to develop solutions that are both long term and stable for the lobster fishery in Atlantic Canada. This is not just an LFA 36 issue. This is a wide-spread issue across the Bay of Fundy and Gulf region. Ultimately this is an Atlantic Canadian lobster crisis, not just LFA 36, this is across the board for all of our districts.”
