Fishermen say new rules will make fishing more expensive

By Anne Barker

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

For over 30 years the Connors brothers of Tickle Cove, N.L. have fished together.

However, changes to the "buddy-up" system will make fishing more expensive, and perhaps impossible, for one of them.

Mike Connors is frustrated and angry. He says the problem began about nine years ago when the brothers upgraded to a larger, 34-foot boat. For the next two years they used both their old and new boats.

However, they didn't see the sense of having twice the expenses if one vessel could handle all their needs. So they applied to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to have their licences transferred to the bigger boat.

"That's what was done and one of us buddied up with the other. When two quotas were caught, we had to transfer the boat licence in order for the third brother to buddy up and get his quota. The licence had to be transferred for one year then came back to the original owner.

"We did that for eight or nine years with no problems until this year when DFO said we weren't allowed to do it any more. However, fishermen from Change Islands and Fogo Island kicked up a fuss and DFO said it could be done for this year," says Connors.

Next year, however, if DFO proceeds with a new policy on buddy-up, more than two fishermen won't be able to use the buddy-up system.

It may leave one of the Connors brothers out in the cold.

"It means one of us has to get out of the fishery. I can buddy-up with one but the other man has to transfer that licence to me as part of this new re-structure."

Whichever one of the Connors is not involved in the buddy-up system will have to give up the fishery. Mike's oldest brother, Johnny, has been fishing for 38 years and Jimmy, the second oldest, has almost the same amount of time in the industry.

Connors says the third brother can be taken on as a deckhand. However, if he chooses this option, he will hold no quotas in his own name.

"He is not allowed to go lobstering no more; he is not allowed at the squid, capelin or mackerel, fish, nothing at all. He's automatically out of the fishery."

Connors alleges the Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union knows what's happening but are going along with it.

Each of the brothers has a 16,000-pound crab quota, which is caught 18 miles outside Bonavista. The third brother, who won't be allowed to buddy up, can retain his license. But in order to do so, he would have to use another boat.

"For 16,000 pound of crab, what kind of boat is he going to get; not a 34 ft one for a quota that size. That would leave him with a small boat, perhaps a 20-23 footer, to fish 18 miles off Bonavista. Just imagine a small boat with one fisherman out 18 miles, when that fisherman could fish in safety with two others in a larger vessel."

Connors says while the union and the government are always pushing safety they are putting people into danger if the buddy-up system can't continue. He says they haven't given any thought to the consequences of doing away with the system.

He adds there is the option of fishing inside the bay, but if either of them chooses this route, he would lose 2,000 pounds from their individual quota.

"I have been fishing this way (buddy-up) for nine years without any problems. Why change now? For me to buy one of my brothers out of the fishery, which has to happen in this new system, I've got to come up with $100,000 for his license and another $50,000 to buy his share of the boat. All this for a 16,000-pound quota of crab; that's if my brother was ready to retire, but he isn't and why should he or anyone be forced out?" asks Connors.

As he speaks, Connors glances out in the bay to see a 34-foot boat towing an 18-foot one.

"Because the rules say each boat has to come to the wharf and unload, that's the way some people are getting around the rules. What's the difference in this and having three of us fishing from one boat?" he ponders.

Connors has contacted several FFAW officials, including president Earl McCurdy.

According to Connors, McCurdy indicated he wasn't familiar with the issue. and would have to get the answer and get back to him.

"I've been talking to him since then and he still doesn't have an answer," says Connors

He says some people have told him the buddy-up system is being cancelled because of people going to Alberta and getting others to fish their licence for them. He says this is a load of nonsense and just an excuse for those in authority who want to change the rules.

Connors himself went to Alberta for two winters but was back long before the season opened, ready to take part in the fishery.

"You can't blame me or any fisherman who goes to Alberta. What kind of living can you get with a 16,000-pound crab quota, a cod fishery that will never be back anymore and a government who is pushing fishermen out of the fishery?

"I'm not going to let this go. From what I'm hearing there are a lot of fishermen in the same boat; at least a couple of hundred. We can't all be wrong and it's time DFO and the FFAW wised up and listened to us," says Connors.

(Anne Barker is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Packet newspaper, which is a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)