FISHERY ALLIANCE ISSUES "Fish Challenge" for Election 2021

Guest Post by the Fishery Community Alliance

Rising to the FISH Challenge?

Preface

During Election of 2015, the Fishery Community Alliance (FCA) was asked to provide the then Liberal Opposition Leader with a guide to develop a fisheries policy should the Party be elected to govern the Province.   This document was followed up with a number of meetings with Dwight Ball at his request, so he could be better prepared to tackle the fishery file.

Following his election in November 2015, the Premier and his MHAs not only ignored the document and its recommendations, but avoided any reference to the state of our fishery and the fact the Province lost 30,000 jobs and thousands of people since the 1992 Moratorium.

In fact, no effort, whatsoever, has been made to rebuild the fishery by the Federal Government, who is responsible for it management, since Clyde Wells was Premier over 30 years ago.

Election 2021

The Alliance will be making public announcements during the election process, urging citizens to vote for candidates that will place the rebuilding our fisheries front and center - if and when elected.  As Candidates in the Election 2021, now is your opportunity to prioritize the fishery as an economic and cultural important resource and industry.

·         Make the Fisheries an Election Issue    Raise the fishery as an issue on the campaign trail; engaged in a fish dialogue with your constituents and communities; and become informed on the history of the fishery and the longstanding and current issues.  

·         Form a Fishery Caucus    We believe it is crucial for elected members who strongly support the rebuilding of our resource to form a Fishery Caucus within the elected Government to become aware of the fishery, its history and its issues and seek solutions the Premier can use to confront the Federal government and demand they rebuild our fishery to where it was when we joined Confederation.

·         Pressure Ottawa    We are urging you to do everything possible to persuade the new Government to take a firm and unrelenting stand with Ottawa to undertake a major program beginning immediately to rebuild  our fishery to its former levels.

 

Some FCA’s members have been engaged in the N&L fisheries dating back to the mid-1940s – when documented evidence shows Canada was elevated from 14th to 6th place in the world Ottawa took over our huge fishery.  Today, we are no longer a factor in the seafood markets of the world and our province has suffered greatly from the cod collapse.

We believe that our province does not have a strong future without a rebuilt fishery.  We invite you to rise to one of the most important challenges in NL – saving the fishery.   

As a start, please read the attached 2012 Fishery document which still contains relevant recommendation to reimagining our future, with the fishery at the epicenter of recovery.

   ATTACHMENT

 FISHERIES POLICY CONSIDERATIONS|   SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

REBUILDING OUR FISHERY-----REBUILDING OUR FUTURE:
The collapse of the Newfoundland and Labrador groundfish fishery  left an unprecedented  legacy of dismal failures in fisheries management policies at both the federal and provincial level, leading to:    

·         Rural Rot    This public policy failure has generated unprecedented social and economic change and instability throughout most regions of our province.   Our rural regions have been hit the hardest, struggling to survive in the absence of a solid commitment by governments to fisheries rebuilding and community revitalization.

·         Policy Vacuum   This impotent public policy vacuum is unacceptable from a public policy perspective is completely contradictory to government's responsibility to provide effective management of our economy and the fishing industry as a whole.

·         Leadership Failures    The principal mandate of elected governments is to provide effective leadership in developing public policy strategies for all sectors of our economy and for our society at large - this includes leadership in the rebuilding of our renewable fishery resources which grows our rural regional economies and communities, dependent on both the inshore & offshore fisheries sectors.

·         Privatization    Increasingly, over the recent past, fisheries management policies of the federal government have led to creeping privatization of common property (public) fishery resources. Tis policy approach will have major future implications for fishery dependent regions and communities and must be challenged and reversed: otherwise, legitimate community based interests and the public good will be completely usurped by private sector driven imperatives;

·         Lack of Transparency     Equally disconcerting is a deepening practice by governments to mold public policy in complete secrecy without the opportunity for broad public input. This lack of openness and transparency is best illustrated by the secrecy negotiations which led to the signing of the Canada/EU Free Trade Agreement in early 2014. Aspects of this agreement will  have profound negative implications in the future for sectors of NL  fishery;

·         Fed/Provincial Policy Disjoint     Policy coordination is critical to fisheries rebuilding and the revitalization of our rural economy:  NL has paid a terrible price because of a disjointed federal/provincial approach to fisheries management over the past fifty years or more; a more pragmatic and enlightened bilateral fisheries management model is required to achieve fisheries renewal.

·         Foreign Overfishing      A failure in Canadian fisheries management, together with aggressive foreign overfishing of transboundary stocks, were both critical factors surrounding the collapse of the NL groundfish fishery. Both  DFO and NL continue to  downplayed the continuation of foreign overfishing  as a challenge to major transboundary stock rebuilding challenge. lf not addressed, the future for regions (i.e. South Coast) traditionally  dependent on these stocks will remain bleak.
 
FISHERIES REVITALIZATION VISION:

·         The revitalization of the NL fishery and our rural economy demands a highly focused public policy commitment to fisheries’ rebuilding and sustainable fisheries management practices which have community wide input and support.    

·         Critical to this public policy vision are policies which promote and safeguard prudent fisheries resource management practices; environmentally sensitive harvesting technologies; effective processing sector strategies; and an internationally competitive fishing industry - anchored by a  strategic marketing structure;

·         This vision also envisages a revitalized and vibrant fishing industry which can restore a measure of hope to individuals and communities in our province wanting the opportunity to rebuild their futures around a rebuilt and revitalized fishery.

·         A vibrant fishing industry provides the only major opportunity for sustained employment and community stability in many regions of our province. This opportunity should not fall by the wayside - coordinated and decisive public policy action should be taken to rebuild the fishery both prudently and viably.

 

GUIDING FISHERIES MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES:

1.     Public Interest    First and foremost, the fishing industry must be managed in the public interest and for the public good through open, transparent and accountable fisheries management policies which meet the "public interest" test;
Fishery resources are common property resources and must be managed by governments in this context.  License holders who hold a privilege, through licenses and quotas, to participate in the fishery have no right of common property resource ownership. The increasing tendency by Ottawa to quasi-privatize fishery resources must be assessed with public policy concern;

2.     Transparency & Input    All government fishery policies must be developed, implemented and reviewed through an open, transparent, and accountable public policy process in which there is full provision for  widespread community and public input; and public policy formulation must be excluded from any
restrictive provisions of access to information legislation;

3.     Science Commitment   An effective and prudent fisheries management framework, anchored by a solid government commitment to fisheries science, is the most critical fisheries management consideration that must drive fisheries management policy.   Pressures to reopen fisheries, or to further increase quotas for fisheries reopened must be resisted until there is clear scientific evidence that individual stocks can sustain any given quota  level;

4.     Fed/Prov Partnership     A new federal/provincial fisheries management partnership is critical to the rebuilding and ongoing management of a comprehensive bilateral fisheries’ management policy framework for NL.

5.     Government Management     The private sector cannot be permitted to usurp governments' constitutional obligations and responsibilities in the effective management of our fishery;

6.     Prudent Management   An overriding fisheries management objective is to maximize economic opportunities to communities, industry participants , and the economy and fishing industry at large, through prudent and sustainable fisheries management policies and practices; minimum processing
requirements can play an important role in meeting this objective;

7.     Cornerstone of Recovery     Fisheries rebuilding must be a pivotal cornerstone in regional social and economic development priorities for our province;

8.     Fish Council    The establishment of a Fisheries Advisory Council, comprised of both industry and public, is critical to a  fisheries policy framework;

9.     Inshore & Offshore   The traditional linkage between both the inshore and offshore sectors of the fishing industry and specific regional economies of our province should be given full consideration in any comprehensive fisheries rebuilding strategy; both sectors can bring their specific strengths to  bear in moving the industry forward concurrent with stock rebuilding opportunities;

10.  Aquaculture   A prudently managed and sustainable aquaculture industry can make a contribution to the revitalization of certain rural regions of our province; however, ongoing concerns over the environmental impacts of certain sectors of the aquaculture industry must be addressed through an open and transparent public review process; and an openness to reform for fear of being left behind;

11.  Rural    The health of our rural regional economies is particularly intertwined with the fishery, especially the inshore fishery.  In the absence of a strong fisheries sector, there is little opportunity for fishery dependent regions to sustain healthy and sustainable regional economies.  This speaks to a stark reality that rebuilding our rural economies must go hand in hand with the rebuilding of the fishery.
 
OTHER FISHERIES POLICY CONSIDERATIONS:
Many questions remain surrounding the collapse of the NL fishery and  the limited public policy actions taken by the NL & Canadian Governments since this collapse some 25 years ago. A full understanding of this matter is crucial from both a governance and public policy perspective.

 

Inquiry   This can best be achieved through a Commission of lnquiry into the Post Moratorium Management of the NL Fishery. A Liberal Government should make this a principal cornerstone of its fisheries policy framework.