Who are We?
“And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?”
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, by T. S. Eliot.
It would be totally understandable, though not acceptable, if an ordinary citizen of our province had written the
Jan 1,2012 CBC news (cbc.ca) post ‘Assigning blame for lost jobs helps no one’, by John Furlong, host of NL’s CBC radio show ‘the fisheries broadcast’. Many people don’t, nor should they have to, understand the complexity of our fisheries problems. A fishery, who’s history has been cess pooled by private corporate usurping, and powering, of fish licences and quotas attained through the persuasion and coercion of the fisheries mismanaged federal and provincial governments.
Since our confederation a fishery, our treasured heritage, that the federal government has bartered and pandered away for favorable reciprocal international trading practices with the foreign fishing nations of NAFO and the EU. The final blow of the federal government’s policy of disinheriting us from our fishery will be played out in the coming months of the Canadian/EU free trade agreement.
The effect of this, as any elementary school child knows, has been the loss of 40,000 fisheries jobs, borderline rural poverty, gutted coastal communities and the dissemination of our maritime culture. Perhaps many young people, today, in the province don’t understand that it was the fisheries 500 year life line that gave our forefathers substiance, that built our family structures that gave us our unique character and godliness and made the province what it is today.
Losing our fishery will sever the connection we have always had to the sea, and to all these eternal things which we have uniquely been and to which we cling to today. Losing our fishery will destroy our ability, as individuals, to achieve, to connect to what our forefathers mastered and knew so well, the right they passed on to us. Losing our connection to the sea will destroy our birth right of dignity, in finding peace and pleasure, security and contentment within ourselves in our own homeland, from learning and exercising the mastered skills of seafarers. Who, or what, will we be then?
The conventional idea that a solution will solve a problem is an illusion, the thought or notion that ‘coming up with’ or ‘guessing at’ answers to problems will solve them. This hit or miss affair which does not encompass the breadth and depth of ‘what’s wrong’ and thus has nothing to do with the real structure of a problem and what will correct it. Only full understanding of a problem, which includes understanding it’s root cause, the nature and record of its history, if applicable to what may be still happening today, can bring proper insight and action that is needed to fix it. Simply put, if you learn and know fully, the problem, what it has been and what it is now. It will tell you what the solutions are. Fact!
“And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?”
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, by T. S. Eliot.
It would be totally understandable, though not acceptable, if an ordinary citizen of our province had written the
Jan 1,2012 CBC news (cbc.ca) post ‘Assigning blame for lost jobs helps no one’, by John Furlong, host of NL’s CBC radio show ‘the fisheries broadcast’. Many people don’t, nor should they have to, understand the complexity of our fisheries problems. A fishery, who’s history has been cess pooled by private corporate usurping, and powering, of fish licences and quotas attained through the persuasion and coercion of the fisheries mismanaged federal and provincial governments.
Since our confederation a fishery, our treasured heritage, that the federal government has bartered and pandered away for favorable reciprocal international trading practices with the foreign fishing nations of NAFO and the EU. The final blow of the federal government’s policy of disinheriting us from our fishery will be played out in the coming months of the Canadian/EU free trade agreement.
The effect of this, as any elementary school child knows, has been the loss of 40,000 fisheries jobs, borderline rural poverty, gutted coastal communities and the dissemination of our maritime culture. Perhaps many young people, today, in the province don’t understand that it was the fisheries 500 year life line that gave our forefathers substiance, that built our family structures that gave us our unique character and godliness and made the province what it is today.
Losing our fishery will sever the connection we have always had to the sea, and to all these eternal things which we have uniquely been and to which we cling to today. Losing our fishery will destroy our ability, as individuals, to achieve, to connect to what our forefathers mastered and knew so well, the right they passed on to us. Losing our connection to the sea will destroy our birth right of dignity, in finding peace and pleasure, security and contentment within ourselves in our own homeland, from learning and exercising the mastered skills of seafarers. Who, or what, will we be then?
The conventional idea that a solution will solve a problem is an illusion, the thought or notion that ‘coming up with’ or ‘guessing at’ answers to problems will solve them. This hit or miss affair which does not encompass the breadth and depth of ‘what’s wrong’ and thus has nothing to do with the real structure of a problem and what will correct it. Only full understanding of a problem, which includes understanding it’s root cause, the nature and record of its history, if applicable to what may be still happening today, can bring proper insight and action that is needed to fix it. Simply put, if you learn and know fully, the problem, what it has been and what it is now. It will tell you what the solutions are. Fact!
These are just a few simple facts of what the fishery has
been and what it ‘is’ now, today. They are not biased or based on my
impression, opinion, wants, feelings, emotions or ego. It has nothing to do
with me or any one person’s opinion, nor does it have anything to do with going
back to the ways of the past, fishing in the ‘old ways’. It has to do with one
thing only, the truth. There are many who don’t want the truth exposed or who
would like those like me proven wrong and shown to be fools. Well that’s simple
to do, it only requires taking on the truth of the matter as it has been
requested. Why has it not been done?
After reading Furlongs article and in light of my comments I give the following response.
It is not acceptable that the host of NL’s premier fisheries radio show be permitted to belittle and denigrate the fisher people, the fishery and the coastal communities of this province. His opinion and manner in attacking attempts to expose fisheries truth and the people whose lives depend on it is wrong. But its consequences, of him being in the position of holding up the peoples trust on the Fisheries Broadcast, are in total disrespect of the crisis facing our province. For some time the FB present host has subtly been pushing and defending the federal and corporate agenda. He should be replaced.
What is this all about? Do you know?
It is about this planet’s god given treasure to us Newfoundlander’s and Labradorian’s, the Grand Banks of NL and the surrounding greatest fishery in the world. And what is that for? Yours and my children, and their children’s children. Fact!
“We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”
Philip Earle
After reading Furlongs article and in light of my comments I give the following response.
It is not acceptable that the host of NL’s premier fisheries radio show be permitted to belittle and denigrate the fisher people, the fishery and the coastal communities of this province. His opinion and manner in attacking attempts to expose fisheries truth and the people whose lives depend on it is wrong. But its consequences, of him being in the position of holding up the peoples trust on the Fisheries Broadcast, are in total disrespect of the crisis facing our province. For some time the FB present host has subtly been pushing and defending the federal and corporate agenda. He should be replaced.
What is this all about? Do you know?
It is about this planet’s god given treasure to us Newfoundlander’s and Labradorian’s, the Grand Banks of NL and the surrounding greatest fishery in the world. And what is that for? Yours and my children, and their children’s children. Fact!
“We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”
Philip Earle
4 comments:
Nobody can frame it any better than Dr. Phil Earle. He has encompassed in his article the whole sprecturm of our love of place, our respect for our most important natural resource- the fish resource, and the sorrow we feel in our hearts over how it has been utilized in such an exploitive way that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians no longer have a say over any aspect of that resource which Nature so abundantly endowed us with. Also the loss of control over the fish resource has impacted on our way of life in rural Newfoundland and Labrador in a very negative way
This piece should be exposed to all Canadians. The story is screeming out to be told.
I recommend that Dr. Phil send this off to all the News Agencies for it to be published.
Thanks Dr. Phil for having such a great interest in the well being of your fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. It is much appreciated.
Wonder why no one is suggesting what to do next? How come no one has an answer for Marystown. All I read is stuff about history.
Sue, I fully expect someone from the corporate elites to attack Dr.Earle for his "inadequacies" since he supports the concerns of many of the bloggers. Dr. Earle is one of the many people who are very concerned about the destruction of a renewable resource, as well as a way of life. Meanwhile, the politicans throw up their hands or cater to the corporate sector, at the expense of our traditional ownership role. It is a resource that belongs to our people, just as the Prairies belong to other Canadians. How do you think western farmers would feel if foeigners were allowed to come in and claim the best farmland and destroy it for the benefit of other nations? That is what they have done with our fishery resource, albeit with some help from our own fish harvesters and processors.
The idea of turning the fishery into a full year resource is not beneficial to the stocks and we need to get back to looking at it being a full time but seasonal occupation. Again, like farming, the weather and species reproductive systems are significant factors that need to be considered. This is where EI rears its ugly head but we may need a different means of supporting our primary harvesters.
I would argue that it is incumbent on us as a society to support primary harvesters, since the dollars earned from the production of a primary resource are new dollars and need to be given higher consideration that those dollars earned in secondary and tertiary ways, both of the latter being dependent on the former.
We only need to look at the bloated public sector, in both St. John's and Ottawa, to understand the futility of some of the waste involved in supporting certain segments of the bureaucracy and to see good dollars being wasted. Witness the expanded size of the Prime Minister's communication department to see the hypocrisy and obscene wastage assoiated with centralized bureaucracy. This all comes at the expenes of necessary services like fisheries science or staffing the MSRC in remote outposts like this province. To begrudge primary fishers a basic amount of income while propping up the propaganda machine is hideous and cruel in my opinion. Therein lies the biggest problem with the fishery and Ottawa does need to held accountable! The PC's here are burying their heads in the sand and for that they slso need to be held accountable!
What to do next. Our next move is to exit this conferedation and take back OUR fish.
Give it over to the Fishers Board that managed it before 1949. The board, as it did in the past, will manage the whole resource: who gets the quota, when it is to be fished and how it is to be processed.
Most likely we will have to ensure that those in the industry get paid for 52 weeks even there are times they cannot fish/process. Framers cannot farm 52 days of the year.
Wayne Bennett
Last Leader NL First
Concerned Progressive Conservative
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