The FFAW is not at all pleased with the way in which the long-awaited return of the commercial redfish fishery will be divided among harvesters.
Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier announced yesterday that the redfish fishery will resume this year for the first time in 30 years.
The fisheries union was hoping that the fishery would benefit the inshore fleet, however President Greg Pretty says nearly 60 per cent of the quota will got to the corporate-owned offshore fleet in Nova Scotia which uses factory-freezer draggers that will not land or process product in Canada.
Pretty says that’s a “clear signal” that DFO has “signed, sealed and delivered the abandonment of coastal communities.”
Photo courtesy of R. Larocque, DFO.
Lebouthillier says the fishery will open in phases, with the first two-year fisheries concentrating on the Gulf.
DFO will watch the fishery closely for management issues and how the market for redfish develops, “so we can adjust accordingly” says Lebouthillier.
FFAW Secretary-Treasurer Jason Spingle says over the last decade, inshore harvesters in the Gulf have contributed hundreds, if not thousands of hours of work toward the development of a sustainable redfish fishery for the inshore fleet and a majority share for the inshore Gulf fleet would have meant economic sustainability for harvesters who “desperately need the transition from shrimp to redfish.”
