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Plenty of Fish: Off Limits to Fishers
2010-07-07
Pasadena, NL - During visits to Conche, Bonavista and English Harbour West, fish harvesters all say the same thing: there is plenty of fish (cod) in the bays and coves.Even at a recent meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fishers and Oceans held in Deer Lake, Leo Seymour, a long time fisher from Harbour Round, testified to the committee that there are plenty of fish but that they have to be left to the foreigners. Left to the foreigners so that the Federal Government can continue the long held practice of trading fish for jobs in vote rich Ontario and Quebec.
In the past, 5000 Metric Tons (11 million pounds) of Cod where traded to the French to save 700 textile jobs in Quebec. Otherwise, France was going to impose a 10% punitive tariff on textiles. Another example is trading fish with Spain so that they would buy coal from Ontario and create vote-getting jobs in that seat rich province.
This practice has to stop and it will only cease if the Terms of Union are re-open and this province takes back control of our fish before cod do become an endangered species.
Regardless of who was on watch, Liberals or Conservatives, our fishery has been either used or abused by the feds. With recent cut backs to shrimp and the gulf cod quota and the insane rules by DFO where more fish is dumped than processed, it is high time that Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans manage our fishery as Quebec manages its own Immigration. What is good for vote rich Quebec should be good for vote poor Newfoundland and Labrador.