Lobster announcement fails fishermen says Liberal critic

Liberal fisheries critic Gerry Byrne, the Newfoundland MP for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte, is questioning the legitimacy of the fisheries minister’s own enthusiasm for her announcement about what she has termed a comprehensive lobster industry assistance package for fishermen from Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Pei and Newfoundland and Labrador. “This is a five year program that must be spread over five eastern Canadian provinces and is valued at $65 million over the life of the arrangement”, MP Gerry Byrne said following the June 10 announcement.

Byrne noted that important details were conspicuously absent from the minister’s announcement including any clear direction for a publicly funded lobster licence retirement program or any mention of extensions or changes to Employment Insurance. Income support will apparently be done through small scale, community employment projects. “Let’s break this down. For an industry that is worth $1 billion a year to the economies of five eastern Canadian provinces, this announcement will result in an average of $2.6 million in assistance per province per year,” he said. “In terms of the desperately needed income support measures, only $15 million of the $65 million has been directed for that purpose. “Again, $15 million split amongst five province is $3 million per province which must then be subdivided again to last over the next five years. The industry has already taken a $100 million annual loss and incomes will probably go lower still before the year is out. For an industry worth $1 billion and with incomes already down by $100 million, the question to ask is ‘Will fishermen be able to weather the storm as a result of this help?’ The answer is obviously ‘no’.”