Give us back our money, says fisherman

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

When Clare lobster fisherman Hubert Saulnier, president of the southwest local of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, was asked last fall what the federal government could do to help out the lobster industry here, his suggestion was to give the region back 50 per cent of the licensing fees that fishermen pay.

Saulnier thinks the money should be used to establish a staffed office to work on behalf of fishermen. “This office could give out a lot of information to every licence holder. It could handle mail outs, surveys, it accumulate the findings,” Saulnier told members of the lobster fishing area 34 advisory committee at a June 16 meeting. “The office could do a lot of work that us reps don’t have time to do and is not really DFO’s role to do it,” he added.

Fifty per cent of the licensing fees paid by fishermen would mean a return of around $813,000 a year to the region said Saulnier. He notes this area pays the highest licensing fees. Whereas some lobster fisheries pay $100 or up to $250, licence holders in LFA 34, which includes Yarmouth County and parts of Shelburne and Digby counties, pay $1,890.

That money has never come back to this region. It all goes into the federal government’s general revenue pot.

YOU CAN READ THE FULL STORY IN THE JUNE 23 ISSUE OF THE YARMOUTH VANGUARD OR SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ONLINE EDITION.