Far from a dead issue

The decision still causes tempers to flare.

Even after two years of arrests, protests and court orders, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was still prepared last fall to allow mid-water trawlers in the waters off eastern P.E.I. The trawlers never appeared, but that was due to a decision by the ship’s owners rather than a change in DFO policy. Fishermen were clearly worried about what might happen this fall since the issue dominated a bear pit session held with provincial and federal department officials during the annual meeting of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association.

A mistake in translation eradicated the 25-fathom exclusion zone between the inshore and the seiner fishery and allowed the seiners to fish off the eastern P.E.I. port of Souris from 2002 to 2004.

They received little in the way of traditional Island hospitality when they docked.

In 2003 a court order allowing the seiners to unload their catch and truck it back to New Brunswick was enforced by an RCMP tactical squad in full riot gear and the arrest of 15 people.

The issue appeared settled in 2005, when the previous federal Liberal government restored the 25-fathom zone.

That appeared to be the end of the issue until last fall when DFO authorized two mid-water trawlers to fish off P.E.I. Even though they had the green light from DFO, the Barry Group, which owned the larger of the two vessels, decided to stay home and the other vessel followed suit.

However, the fishermen at the meeting were clearly upset the approval was granted in the first place. They maintained the largest of the two vessels was capable of catching over two million pounds of herring in just three trips.

Fishermen like Shawn Cooke and Trevor Barlow told the meeting that was simply too much pressure on a dwindling resource. Barlow said setting the trawl down 40 feet could effectively wipe out the herring stock.

P.E.I. Fisheries Minister Allan Campbell agreed with the fishermen. The Souris-Elmira MLA, who was a lobster fisherman before he entered politics, said the province was opposed to the federal decision right from the start.

He said Ottawa seemed all too willing to roll the dice on the Island herring fishery even though the impact of a mid-water trawl remains far from certain. Campbell said it seemed Ottawa was trying to play one province against another, citing the need to protect processing and fishing jobs in New Brunswick.

It’s clear that if DFO once again allows the mid-water trawlers to head to P.E.I. this fall, they are in for a fight.

Fishermen who feel they have little to lose will not sit idly by as the trawlers scoop up their livelihood. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and protection of the stocks for the next generation of fishers will be the prime concern for everybody involved.