SEA-NL has launched a petition urging the House of Commons to change the status of non-core groundfish licenses in the province, so they can be sold or handed down.

Jason Sullivan, President of SEA-NL, says non-core license holders are being treated like “second-class fishermen.” He says that must end, based on safety-at-sea and fairness.

SEA-NL says DFO’s licensing policy for the province states that non-core groundfish licenses are not eligible for re-issuance. They say DFO introduced the policy in the 90s after the collapse of the commercial cod fishery, in an effort to reduce the number of fishermen.

SEA_NL argues that the non-core policy unfairly targeted many fishermen who held other jobs, and could not depend on the fishery as their primary or sole source of income. They say many worked on fishing boats whereby money from a fish sale was put in a single fishermen’s name, so they could not prove attachment to the fishery.

The organization says inshore harvesters don’t have pension plans, often using money from the sale of their licenses to fund retirement. However, that can’t happen with non-core license holders.