Well done Josephine - we could use a few more!
This is the text of a submission by Josephine Kennedy to the Scotia-Fundy Herring Advisory Committee:
Feb. 6/07
* 1. Mr. Chairman and committee members, I’m Josephine Burke-Kennedy. I represent multi-species license holders in Eastern Cape Breton. These licenses include but not limited to the following: lobster, snowcrab, scallop, swordfish, herring gillnet and mackerel. Also, my husband besides holding some of the above licenses has been a purse-seine fisherman for the past 34 years. I have many questions regarding the issue of mid water trawl, not the least is the fact that this method of fishing is capable of complete annihilation of any specie of fish that it targets. Mr. Chairman, there’s a saying, “that if you don’t learn from your past mistakes, history will surely repeat itself”. Unfortunately, those at the Department are doomed to have history repeated. The communities of Louisbourg, Lunenburg, Canso, North Sydney and most of the coastline of Newfoundland have been devastated simply because the bureaucrats in DFO choose to listen to the boys with the suits instead of the men in rubber boots. Long before the collapse of the groundfishery, DFO was told by the fishermen what was about to happen. Did the department listen? We know what the answer to that question is: NO. And who suffered the most because of DFO’s mismanagement. Our fishermen and communities, not the suits. Fishermen told DFO that the groundfishery could not sustain such high quotas but DFO said that the fishery was healthy. What happened, who was right? Mid-water trawl results in too much fish being taken too fast. Our towns of Louisbourg, Canso and North Sydney will never recover because of bureaucratic bungling. The most devastating of all was the wanton destruction of lives. The bureaucrats whose stupid, idiotic decisions caused this devastation should be held criminally liable for their actions. This bureaucratic mis-management cost the taxpayers between 4-5 billion dollars, this money could have went to Health, Education, Child care or Seniors, but instead it was to cover the asses of bureaucratic idiots. DFO you have played Russian Roulette with all chambers full once too often.
* 2. Greg Peacock, you have on numerous occasions when we spoke, said that it wasn’t necessary for a meeting of all sectors of industry including mackerel, swordfish and tuna, because in your words everyone was in agreement with mid-water trawling on small pelagics. Well, if this being the case, why not conduct a vote immediately with a show of hands who is pro mid-water trawling.
* 3. I’ve been trying to understand the department’s burning desire to bring back mid-water trawling on small pelagics. Can you Greg and Claire explain this reasoning! What negotiations have gone on behind closed doors that has encouraged the department to bring back this method?
* 4. My understanding from the department is that there is only one Herring Mid-water trawl license in Scotia-Fundy and that’s limited to <65’. Has the department under the guise of science issued more mid-water trawl licenses for herring?
* 5. Back in the late 80’s early 90’s two Gulf based seiners the “Apollo and the Gemini No.1” rigged up for mid water trawl on mackerel. They weren’t successful in their pursuit of mackerel, instead they requested the department to allow them to midwater trawl on herring and that the allocation come from their own herring purse-seine quota. The DFO said absolutely not. Why was it NO then and yes now.?
* 6. The Department failed miserably in not including other fishing sectors in the discussions regarding this mwtrawl regime. Why did the department only include mackerel fishermen into the discussions when it was in the department’s best interest to do so, and then conveniently leave them out when decisions that would detrimentally affect the mackerel fishermen were made. I believe the department and its senior staff should and must be held personally liable for failure to act in ‘good faith’ and to keep the best interest of the existing fishing sectors first and foremost. Perhaps the time has come for a full inquiry into the decisions made by the department.
* 7. The department’s desire regarding the necessity to acquire science data on the mackerel/herring stocks on the Scotian Shelf, should and is met with a great deal of skepticism. According to the department the acoustical equipment utilized by the “Julieanne 111” isn’t compatible with DFO’s equipment and at this time the department is unable to download or edit the information from this vessel. So can those decision makers within the department explain to me and others how this vessel contributes to the department’s quest for stock assessment of small pelagics on the Scotian Shelf. How does Mid water trawling for science assessment benefit the department more so than the data recovered from purse-seine fishing? To me this has been a Mid water trawl herring fishery in disguise directly from day one. How did signed JPA’s to conduct a Science Survey for Mackeral become a full-fledged herring fishery?
* 8. According to the three year management plan for herring there is a sentence that states : “ DFO retains the right to make decisions in the best interest of the fishery”. Greg, can you explain how allowing Mid water trawling is in the best interest of the fishery and the thousands of people who depend it? Since DFO has abused it’s right, I believe the Minister must remove those DFO personel responsible for putting the entire herring/mackerel fishery in jeopardy. We are not stupid, we all know that 12,000 tons of herring won’t be enough compensation for the “Julieanne 111” let alone four vessels especially when there’s already a power play for quota happening behind the scenes. That power play is ownership.
* 9. Has the department given any consideration or forethought to the large pelagic fishery of Tuna and Swordfish? As the US Eastern Seaboard Tuna/Swordfish industry will attest, their fishery has been dismal due to the lack of food fish for the large pelagic. Common sense, if used, would tell officials that if you annihilate the feed for a specie, then that specie will go elsewhere to ensure it’s survival. The New England Fishery Management Council has restricted mid-water trawl to harvesting herring from June to September. They are allowing however purse seiners to continue to harvest the herring resource. Hence, the move to revamp from Mid Water vessels to purse-seiners. After several conversations with fishermen along the Eastern seaboard of US and informing them of our intentions to have our Conservative government ban midwater trawl on pelagics, they will be meeting to push for total removal of midwater trawls on herring.
* 10. Lobster and Snow Crab fishermen depend on mackerel and herring for bait and as a way to supplement their incomes after our short fishing seasons. Our lobster season in Eastern Cape Breton lasts for 2 months and overlaps with our snow crab season. The added benefit of being able to catch their own supply of bait, helps to lower expenses. Where will the supply of bait for our lobster/snowcrab fisheries come from and at what price? Again we say NO to mid water trawling. A few pounds of herring or mackerel to Lunar may not mean much but to a small fishermen it means the difference between paying the power bill or being in the dark.
My family has never recovered from the closure of the groundfishery. In the
80’s my father became one of DFO’s bureaucratic statistics. Dad had hoped his longline license would be a nest egg for retirement. DFO made sure this didn’t happen. Instead they allowed the mid water trawl vessels to continue the destruction. The result, my father lost his boat because there weren’t any fish to catch. Our family faced total ruin. Thanks to the bureaucrats. My father has never recovered from this ordeal. Dad is 80 years old and working on a deck lobster boat because thanks to DFO his nest egg evaporated. I have a personal thorn in my ass over mid water trawl. I give my solemn word that I will fight mid water trawl with the last breath that I take. My children and grandchildren would never forgive me if I give up now.
And finally, Mr. Banks, don’t take this personally, there’s no place for your mid water trawler or any other in Canada. So when you’re ready to take the ‘Julieanne 111’ back to Scotland, give me a call and I will throw your lines off for you.
Thank you very much.
Point to Ponder:
To the people who have investments large or small, in plants, boats and equipment. What will you do next year when the DFO tells that, sorry guys, we have to put a moratorium on herring? What will you do? What will your investments be worth? We must learn from past mistakes, people lost everything when the cod moratorium announced. Don’t let this happen to you. Remember the bureaucrats said the cod stocks were healthy and that we could never fish them out, the fishermen said the stocks were in danger. Who was right?
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