The FFAW is taking action to address what they see as the mismanagement of the northern cod stocks with the reopening of the commercial cod fishery.
The union is filing a formal federal court challenge to DFO’s decision to reopen the fishery after changes to the limit reference point took cod stock assessments from the critical to the cautious zone for the first time since the moratorium was declared.
The fisheries union is also filing an injunction to delay the management plan for the commercial fishery in 2J3KL – off the northeast coast of Newfoundland – until the judicial review is complete.
President Greg Pretty says “you just can’t lift a 32-year moratorium and ignore an over 40-year commitment without any meaningful explanation.”
He calls DFO’s approach a violation of the Fisheries Act and “a serious breach of public trust.”