The Secretary Treasurer of the FFAW says assertions that a marine conservation area off the south coast would not have an impact on commercial fisheries is “absolutely false.”
The FFAW applauded government’s recent decision to halt the process by terminating an MOU on the feasibility of a proposed National Marine Conservation Area off Burgeo.
Jamie Baker told VOCM Open Line the union sought out answers from Parks Canada and says a lot of uncertainty about the impact on local harvesters remained.
“We were told unequivocally, at least one fishery would not be allowed in the NMCA, and that would be scallops. That’s fine and dandy, for other fisheries like lobster, we were told ‘we don’t see any issue here,'”
“However, and there’s always a big caveat on every fisheries question we asked, and the caveat was, that all the details around those fisheries would be worked out at later dates. Well, I’m sorry, that’s just not good enough for people who are investing heavily in enterprises and trying to make a living there.”
Baker says they’re aware of other jurisdictions in Atlantic Canada where harvesters were told not to worry.
“At the end of the day” says Baker “they lost significant portions of their fishing grounds.” He says while harvesters have been assured that their fisheries would be managed by DFO, “the part they’re not telling you, is that yes, they would, but they would have to adhere to any rules that were implemented under any provisions of an NMCA.”
