DFO and how it handled observer’s and concerns.

[OldBlackDog]

Please note who really got this going.

‘Shut him down’​

A week into 2020, Misty MacDuffee, the wild salmon program director at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, reached out to The Narwhal with a tip. MacDuffee had heard from an observer that people in his position were being mistreated at sea, and that it had major consequences for how bycatch — sea life that is unintentionally caught and sometimes has to be discarded — is reported.

“I think it is atrocious and needs to be exposed,” MacDuffee wrote in her email.

That email set off the investigations that would run, respectively, in The Narwhal five months later and in VICE a year later

Docs show turmoil in DFO following fisheries harassment allegations | The Narwhal

How Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has responded to allegations of harassment and assault aboard Canadian fishing vessels

thenarwhal.ca

 

[onefish]

As an ex commercial fisherman I can atest to the accuracy of the facts of this article. The treatment of trawler observers was also applicable on trollers, gillnetters and seiners. Observers are a threat to the fishery they are observing and are treated as such. In response to this DFO has moved to camera requirements for many fisheries. This takes away any ambiguity.

 

[terrin]

As an ex commercial fisherman I can atest to the accuracy of the facts of this article. The treatment of trawler observers was also applicable on trollers, gillnetters and seiners. Observers are a threat to the fishery they are observing and are treated as such. In response to this DFO has moved to camera requirements for many fisheries. This takes away any ambiguity.

Appreciate your honesty. One would hope that the new electronic monitoring system is foolproof and that in the event of a malfunction the fishing activity must come to an end. This would ensure that the recorded catch matches the delivered catch and make it impossible to fish without accurate oversight.

 

[IronNoggin]

As an ex commercial fisherman I can atest to the accuracy of the facts of this article. The treatment of trawler observers was also applicable on trollers, gillnetters and seiners. Observers are a threat to the fishery they are observing and are treated as such.

Not in all troll fisheries...

One of the first things I did simply to be doing something when we moved down from the Arctic was to sign up as an Observer on a special Area G Research Project. I found it to be quite enjoyable. Heard rumors of what this article refers to, so discussed that with many of the skippers I had become friends with. At that time Archipelago was running the observer's with Area G, and yes, there are many many complaints (from the fisherman's side). So, I decided to do something about that...

The next year I had already formed my Consulting Company, and recruited enough ex skippers / deckhands to fill the required numbers of observers. Put in a bid (bid basically for wages that year) and beat out the competition. Only once in the many years after that did Archipelago place a countering bid. My response was to inform them to withdraw that, or I would take away their dragger contracts with exactly the same methods. They complied.

Our team enjoyed a very good working relationship with the fleet for many many years.
In fact many strong friendships developed as a consequence, including myself and the Skipper I still work with (not as an observer) today.

I understand that what the article describes occurred in sufficient numbers to warrant the examination of that.
But it most certainly wasn't the case in ours.

Cheers,
Nog

 

[onefish]

I was an area G observer too. Glad your experiences were positive.