OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
OP-ED: Modernizing the Fisheries Act long overdue
Bill C-68 designed to help local rural prosperity
Contributed
Published: 4 hours ago
Fishing boats are a regular sight at the docks in Glace Bay. They are part of an commercial fisheries industry which produced an economic value in Canada in 2017 was over $3 billion. - SaltWire File Photo
Here we are in 2019 waiting for the passing of Bill C-68, a bill to amend the Fisheries Act.
Wow!
John Couture
The oldest piece of legislation since confederation is being modernized, thus advancing social economics, Indigenous rights and protecting the environment where fish live and reside.
This is a tremendous piece of work and although some (in the mining and farming industries) do not support the bill, it needs to proceed.
These other industries need to be heard, understood and perhaps even make friendly amendments, so let’s “get ‘er done!”
Now I say this partially in jest because I do have some concerns over the minister having in legislation that he/she has full authority, now and in the future. So, without my crystal ball, I might offer some suggestions for correcting this situation in advance in my diatribe against the process and its many pitfalls.
I guess I should introduce myself. I am a career public servant. I spent from 2001 until 2018 on the books of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as an employee, and from 2012-2018 as an employee on leave without pay.
I can speak to this matter through the lens of years of experience and knowledge, which at times is not easy to find in DFO. It is a big department with lots of employees and differing responsibilities. Aye, there’s the rub. Why do they not convert to an agency such as Parks Canada where decisions are based on factual business concerns and science/conservation - not on the political will or wants of a minister? Can anyone say surf clam?
This too easily suggests why having full authority should be a concern for all Canadians. Not to raise that matter again, I leave it to the findings of the Ethics Commissioner.
"Owner-operator is the basis for all that is good in fisheries."
— John Couture
Another fact about DFO. Regional responses are not concise, clear or consistent. Take cunner (bergall), for instance, a plentiful bait fish in the Atlantic Ocean. If I live in Gulf Cape Breton, I can use cunner as bait if they are found in my lobster trap. This is not permitted on the opposite side of Cape Breton. Kudos to DFO Area Office in Westmount who supported the industry on providing equity. Does the cunner recognize the lines drawn by regions? Why should the place of residence distinguish whether or not you have the privilege to harvest the fish? This answer is simple. It is political and that is ripe within all decisions based on the fish harvests in Canada.
Owner-operator is the basis for all that is good in fisheries. This idea of having small business owners go out on their vessel using their investment, skills and knowledge before returning to the wharf with a bountiful harvest of lean, natural, healthy wild caught protein is simply a wonderful way of life.
To ensure this way of life continues means supporting Owner Operator and the Regulations and Legislation that should maintain it via Bill C-68. This bill wants to see local rural prosperity. This prosperity is seen when small business owner/fishing enterprises make purchases in their local economy in Twillingate, Glace Bay, St. George’s and elsewhere. Supporting other local businesses for their livelihood benefits all Canadians.
In British Columbia, the Fisheries Department took a different turn and is about 90 per cent corporate owned and in some cases foreign owned by shell companies paying low wages. This creates sharecropper fish harvesters rather than independent business owners.
This plague cannot extend to the other coasts of Canada. We need your voice and the voices of our leaders to ensure this forward momentum does not cease.
Ottawa does not have a fishery. They don’t think fish and the politicians based in the Senate don’t fish, not even some from Atlantic Canada. I thank the Fisheries Minister for efforts to get Bill C-68 through the process before June. The bill has gone through Parliament and was actually sponsored by Senator Dan Christmas of Membertou. He understands the benefit of seeing local rural communities flourish and the distribution of the resource to the greater population. It is a Canadian resource and it needs to be managed and protected by Canadians at the most basic level – the owner-operator inshore fleet.
The Senate Committee now holds the Bill in their hands, hearing witnesses and possibly making recommendations to amend the Bill, but hopefully without politics interrupting the process at a cost to Atlantic Canada’s inshore fishery.
The economic value of commercial fisheries in Canada in 2017 was over $3 billion. This is a value that has grown as the need of wild-caught healthy protein is being sought by nations striving to ensure food security. If upon reading this you wonder what you can do, seek out Canadian Senators by province and send an email, a letter or a phone call to ensure that politics does not hold up the passing of Bill C-68. This can help ensure protection of the economics and sustainability of rural coastal communities in Atlantic Canada.
John Couture is the Nova Scotia director for the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters Federation and a member of the Cape Breton Fish Harvesters Association. He lives in Sydney and is employed with the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources
Bill C-68 designed to help local rural prosperity
Contributed
Published: 4 hours ago
Fishing boats are a regular sight at the docks in Glace Bay. They are part of an commercial fisheries industry which produced an economic value in Canada in 2017 was over $3 billion. - SaltWire File Photo
Here we are in 2019 waiting for the passing of Bill C-68, a bill to amend the Fisheries Act.
Wow!
John Couture
The oldest piece of legislation since confederation is being modernized, thus advancing social economics, Indigenous rights and protecting the environment where fish live and reside.
This is a tremendous piece of work and although some (in the mining and farming industries) do not support the bill, it needs to proceed.
These other industries need to be heard, understood and perhaps even make friendly amendments, so let’s “get ‘er done!”
Now I say this partially in jest because I do have some concerns over the minister having in legislation that he/she has full authority, now and in the future. So, without my crystal ball, I might offer some suggestions for correcting this situation in advance in my diatribe against the process and its many pitfalls.
I guess I should introduce myself. I am a career public servant. I spent from 2001 until 2018 on the books of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as an employee, and from 2012-2018 as an employee on leave without pay.
I can speak to this matter through the lens of years of experience and knowledge, which at times is not easy to find in DFO. It is a big department with lots of employees and differing responsibilities. Aye, there’s the rub. Why do they not convert to an agency such as Parks Canada where decisions are based on factual business concerns and science/conservation - not on the political will or wants of a minister? Can anyone say surf clam?
This too easily suggests why having full authority should be a concern for all Canadians. Not to raise that matter again, I leave it to the findings of the Ethics Commissioner.
"Owner-operator is the basis for all that is good in fisheries."
— John Couture
Another fact about DFO. Regional responses are not concise, clear or consistent. Take cunner (bergall), for instance, a plentiful bait fish in the Atlantic Ocean. If I live in Gulf Cape Breton, I can use cunner as bait if they are found in my lobster trap. This is not permitted on the opposite side of Cape Breton. Kudos to DFO Area Office in Westmount who supported the industry on providing equity. Does the cunner recognize the lines drawn by regions? Why should the place of residence distinguish whether or not you have the privilege to harvest the fish? This answer is simple. It is political and that is ripe within all decisions based on the fish harvests in Canada.
Owner-operator is the basis for all that is good in fisheries. This idea of having small business owners go out on their vessel using their investment, skills and knowledge before returning to the wharf with a bountiful harvest of lean, natural, healthy wild caught protein is simply a wonderful way of life.
To ensure this way of life continues means supporting Owner Operator and the Regulations and Legislation that should maintain it via Bill C-68. This bill wants to see local rural prosperity. This prosperity is seen when small business owner/fishing enterprises make purchases in their local economy in Twillingate, Glace Bay, St. George’s and elsewhere. Supporting other local businesses for their livelihood benefits all Canadians.
In British Columbia, the Fisheries Department took a different turn and is about 90 per cent corporate owned and in some cases foreign owned by shell companies paying low wages. This creates sharecropper fish harvesters rather than independent business owners.
This plague cannot extend to the other coasts of Canada. We need your voice and the voices of our leaders to ensure this forward momentum does not cease.
Ottawa does not have a fishery. They don’t think fish and the politicians based in the Senate don’t fish, not even some from Atlantic Canada. I thank the Fisheries Minister for efforts to get Bill C-68 through the process before June. The bill has gone through Parliament and was actually sponsored by Senator Dan Christmas of Membertou. He understands the benefit of seeing local rural communities flourish and the distribution of the resource to the greater population. It is a Canadian resource and it needs to be managed and protected by Canadians at the most basic level – the owner-operator inshore fleet.
The Senate Committee now holds the Bill in their hands, hearing witnesses and possibly making recommendations to amend the Bill, but hopefully without politics interrupting the process at a cost to Atlantic Canada’s inshore fishery.
The economic value of commercial fisheries in Canada in 2017 was over $3 billion. This is a value that has grown as the need of wild-caught healthy protein is being sought by nations striving to ensure food security. If upon reading this you wonder what you can do, seek out Canadian Senators by province and send an email, a letter or a phone call to ensure that politics does not hold up the passing of Bill C-68. This can help ensure protection of the economics and sustainability of rural coastal communities in Atlantic Canada.
John Couture is the Nova Scotia director for the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters Federation and a member of the Cape Breton Fish Harvesters Association. He lives in Sydney and is employed with the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources
