For Immediate Release
July 30, 2024
NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) wrote Minister Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, today calling on her to reinstate the stewardship fishery and allocate the first 115,000 tonnes of allowable catch to inshore fisheries.
The NL NDP is disappointed that the Federal Minister refused to protect the Northern cod stock, and the rights of inshore harvesters in the province, and is supporting the concerns brought forward by FFAW-Unifor.
“In most of the resource-dependent communities in our province, more than one income earner in the household relies on the fishery. These communities have endured since they were devastated by the moratorium in 1992,” Dinn wrote. I also remind you that the collapse of the fishery not only affected these towns and villages, but also jeopardized the financial and demographic viability of the entire province. It was truly a tragedy whose scars remain with us to this day.”
“You have a chance now to do something successive Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to do, to take action to help revitalize fishing communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. Ensure that harvesters and their communities benefit from the resource, instead of sacrificing it to large corporate interests abroad.”
A full transcript of Dinn’s letter to Minister Lebouthillier follows.
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media Relations Manager, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca
July 30, 2024
The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 200 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0E6
Dear Minister Lebouthillier,
I am writing to express the disappointment of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democrat Party for your refusal to protect the Northern cod stock, and the rights of inshore harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador. The June 26, 2024 announcement by your department to instate a commercial cod fishery and allocate a portion of the 19,000 tonnes of allowable catch to offshore fleets flies in the face of careful conservation of Northern cod resources and the rights of adjacent communities to benefit from that resource. The NL NDP supports the call of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) to reinstate the stewardship fishery and allocate the first 115,000 tonnes of allowable catch to inshore fisheries.
It was clear leading up to the 1992 cod moratorium that offshore draggers were primarily responsible for decimation of the cod stock. Fish harvesters knew it and warned that stocks were declining. Then as now, government did not listen.
The principle of adjacency was a key element in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Article 61 of UNCLOS states that conserving and protecting marine resources should:
“Also be designed to maintain or restore populations of harvested species at levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield, as qualified by relevant environmental and economic factors, including the economic needs of coastal fishing communities.”
The Government of Canada affirmed the importance of this principle when you signed the treaty in 1982, Minister Romeo Leblanc made a commitment to harvesters at that time. Prime Minster Trudeau reaffirmed that commitment in his 2015 letter to the FFAW.
In most of the resource-dependent communities in our province, more than one income earner in the household relies on the fishery. These communities have endured since they were devastated by the moratorium in 1992. I also remind you that the collapse of the fishery not only affected these towns and villages, but also jeopardized the financial and demographic viability of the entire province. It was truly a tragedy whose scars remain with us to this day.
You have a chance now to do something successive Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to do, to take action to help revitalize fishing communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. Ensure that harvesters and their communities benefit from the resource, instead of sacrificing it to large corporate interests abroad.
The people of Newfoundland and Labrador have sacrificed too much and worked too hard to accept anything less. I look forward to your positive response.
Regards,
James Dinn, M.H.A.
District of St. John’s Centre
Leader, Third Party Caucus
CC Greg Pretty, President, FFAW
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