The public gallery in the House of Assembly had to be cleared today after fish harvesters responded loudly to discussion in the Legislature related to their concerns over changes to allocations in area 3L.
The harvesters moved on to Confederation Building this afternoon in time for Question Period after protesting first at DFO and then the Sheraton Hotel.
In the Legislature, guests in the public gallery are supposed to remain silent, but the protesters responded loudly to provincial fisheries minister Derek Bragg who was responding a petition presented by Bonavista MHA Craig Pardy.
The place went up after Minister Derek Bragg spoke.
They clear out and minister Bragg goes out to the lobby to request an immediate meeting with some of the key players, including the @FFAW_Unifor 's Jason Spingle. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/yIqVCW9usv
— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) March 22, 2023
Union Responds
Jason Spingle, secretary-treasurer of the FFAW met with the harvesters at the Sheraton and while agrees with their gripe about the 3L being split into two biomasses, he doesn’t think anything’s going to change this year.
He’s going to recommend to the federal minister that she hold off on the Precautionary Approach for this year given the problems the new system has created. The union raised the matter with Minister Seamus O’Regan, senior DFO managers, and emphasized the need for support from the provincial government.
The union claims that since the protest began on Monday, there have been threats of violent intimidation, personal harm and property damage made against both volunteer and elected members of the FFAW’s inshore council.
President Greg Pretty says those actions cannot be tolerated by any fish harvester in the province.
He’s encouraging a commitment to work together to find solutions to the problems facing the industry and “misdirected actions only serve to disrupt the industry as a whole.'”
