The man who emerged as an unofficial spokesman and negotiator for crab fishermen during recent protests at Confederation Building is facing charges linked to last year’s seal fishery.
John Efford says he was first contacted by DFO enforcement in January but didn’t think anything would come of it, until he recently received a summons and court date for late May.
Efford faces four counts of failing to comply with terms and conditions of a licence, while his three crewmembers face single counts on the same charge.
The charges were brought to VOCM’s attention by a provincial government official.
Efford said he couldn’t get into the specifics of the allegations while the case is before the courts, but insists any wrongdoing was unintended.
“What can I say? Myself and my crew always follow all the practices, all the rules laid out through DFO,” he said. “If there was an extenuating circumstance where we didn’t, then it was an extenuating circumstance and totally unintentional, and that’s all I can say.”
Meanwhile, Efford was asked if the celebration over free enterprise gains with government was premature, given the continuing dispute over the price of snow crab for this season.
“No, definitely not, jeez no,” he said emphatically. “We got moving on something that’s going to make a massive, altering change to the fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador for independent harvesters and it’s the beginning, the beginning of real change.
“Yes, we celebrate what we’ve accomplished so far, but if you listen to what I said that day (at Confederation Building), there’s going to be road bumps and road blocks thrown in front of us, but we’re going to keep moving forward and upward till we’re done.”