WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19th, 2023
More cracks appear in government-controlled fish-pricing system; SEA-NL demands review of lobster-pricing formula
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) demands the province review the way lobster is priced to the inshore fleet to determine whether enterprise owners are getting fair market return.
SEA-NL calls on DFO to delay mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling on Fisheries and Oceans to delay the mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks (ELOGS) until concerns are addressed about the security of personal information and commercial catch data.
SEA-NL calls on DFO to delay mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling on Fisheries and Oceans to delay the mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks (ELOGS) until concerns are addressed about the security of personal information and commercial catch data.
SEA-NL calls on DFO to delay mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling on Fisheries and Oceans to delay the mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks (ELOGS) until concerns are addressed about the security of personal information and commercial catch data.
SEA-NL calls for elimination of province’s farcical system of fish pricing before fisheries lost
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Friday, July 15, 2022
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling for the elimination of the provincial government's final-offer system of fish pricing in favour of direct negotiations between the union and processors until contracts are hammered out that both sides respect.
“There is no point in government being involved in negotiating the price of fish when its appointed panel does not have the power to enforce one price or the other, and its decisions do not result in commercial fisheries,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director.
“The existing system has collapsed with processors refusing to buy for the prices that are set, and inshore fleets remaining tied to the wharf,” he added. “Both sides must stick it out at the negotiating table until a contract is hammered out like with any other collective agreement.”
Under the final-offer selection system of fish pricing, a provincial government-appointed panel steps in when the FFAW-Unifor, and Association of Seafood Producers can’t reach a deal on the price of a particular species.
The panel must choose one price or the other, with its final decision “binding” on both sides. However, most prices set by the panel to date this year have not resulted in fisheries, as is the case with northern shrimp, sea cucumber, east coast capelin, and likely squid.
In the case of snow crab, processors have attempted to pay far less than the panel price of $6.15/lb by charging owner-operators for services like transportation that in precious years were covered by the negotiated price.
Speculation is processors haven't made a killing at snow crab this year like they did in 2021, and are squeezing every last cent from every other price.
“Government must move immediately or a number of fisheries may not happen this year, which will be devastating to the inshore fleet and our rural communities,” Cleary said. “In the longer term government must be open to outside buyers.”
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FFAW-Unifor election ‘democratic farce’: SEA-NL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Friday, Aug. 19th, 2022
Frustration to embarrassment to shame, patience lost with DFO science: SEA-NL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, Feb. 10, 2023
Frustration to embarrassment to shame, patience lost with DFO science: SEA-NL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, Feb. 10, 2023
Frustration to embarrassment to shame, patience lost with DFO science: SEA-NL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, Feb. 10, 2023
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says continued cancellations and delays of critical assessments that survey the health of major fish stocks like northern cod have turned Fisheries and Oceans science into a Canadian shame.
“We’re past the point of frustration and embarrassment with DFO science; it’s now Canada’s shame,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director.
DFO’s science director for the province released a letter Thursday afternoon informing fishing industry representatives that the Canadian Coast Guard science ship Alfred Needler has been deemed “beyond repair” and decommissioned.
That’s only five months earlier than planned, but the impact on DFO’s science program is huge because the aging ship was needed to help bring two new science vessels into service.
That happens through comparative fishing, when an older vessel trawls alongside a new one — a critical step to calibrate differences between ships in trawl performance and ensure the continuity of DFO data.
“That continuity has been broken with the early loss of the Needler,” said Cleary. “DFO must clearly explain the consequences for its science program and future stock assessments.”
DFO also revealed Thursday there would be no 2023 assessment of northern cod for the second year (this is year 31 of the moratorium). The shrimp stock off southern Labrador and northeastern Newfoundland, the stock primarily fished by the inshore fleet in shrimp fishing areas 5 and 6, also won’t be assessed this year.
Frustration to embarrassment to shame, patience lost with DFO science: SEA-NL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, Feb. 10, 2023
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) says continued cancellations and delays of critical assessments that survey the health of major fish stocks like northern cod have turned Fisheries and Oceans science into a Canadian shame.
“We’re past the point of frustration and embarrassment with DFO science; it’s now Canada’s shame,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director.
DFO’s science director for the province released a letter Thursday afternoon informing fishing industry representatives that the Canadian Coast Guard science ship Alfred Needler has been deemed “beyond repair” and decommissioned.
That’s only five months earlier than planned, but the impact on DFO’s science program is huge because the aging ship was needed to help bring two new science vessels into service.
That happens through comparative fishing, when an older vessel trawls alongside a new one — a critical step to calibrate differences between ships in trawl performance and ensure the continuity of DFO data.
“That continuity has been broken with the early loss of the Needler,” said Cleary. “DFO must clearly explain the consequences for its science program and future stock assessments.”
DFO also revealed Thursday there would be no 2023 assessment of northern cod for the second year (this is year 31 of the moratorium). The shrimp stock off southern Labrador and northeastern
Frustration to embarrassment to shame, patience lost with DFO science: SEA-NL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, Feb. 10, 2023
SEA-NL calls on DFO to delay mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, March 3rd, 2023
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling on Fisheries and Oceans to delay the mandatory introduction of electronic logbooks (ELOGS) until concerns are addressed about the security of personal information and commercial catch data.
“Red flags have been raised over the security of highly valuable catch data and personal information,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s Executive Director. “The federal government must ensure Canadians that the country’s food supply is secure, commercial sensitive catch data will remain with owner-operators and fleets, and that individual privacy is protected.”
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has said ELOGs — an application downloaded to an enterprise owner’s cellphone or computer device — will be mandatory starting in 2024, and will allow the department to collect more timely and accurate catch data.
Instead of writing catch information into a more traditional paper logbook — which must be submitted to DFO at the end of a season, and the data manually inputted — owner-operators, for example, would type data into the ELOG on their cell while at sea.
The information would be sent directly to DFO when the device is within range.
The ELOGS, which are available now on a voluntary basis, currently collect catch data on lobster and snow crab at a cost of between $60-$65 a year per species. That cost will rise, however, as more species are added — including cod as early as this summer.
DFO did not develop the ELOG technology, but farmed it out to third-party developers as a “tremendous opportunity” given the market of 80,000 commercial fishing licenses across Canada.
Concerns have been raised with SEA-NL about how DFO will use the information collected, as well as over the security of commercial sensitive catch data collected by private companies on commercial fisheries.
“It’s not good enough that DFO has left it to the private companies selling ELOGS to answer questions,” said Cleary.
“Equally as concerning is that DFO is ramming the technology down the throats of enterprise owners and expecting them to pay the full cost, and who knows that will be when all is said and done,” said Pam Patten, President of SEA-NL.
DFO has certified two companies — Jobel, a Quebec-based non-profit company owned by a fishermen's organization there, and Vericatch, a British Columbia-based private-sector company — to sell the applications.
Jobel's software application is for lobster only, while Vericatch's software is for lobster and snow crab.
While Jobel has been endorsed by the FFAW-Unifor, Vericatch’s senior manager of business development is Robert Keenan, the union's former secretary-treasurer.
Keenan has been holding meetings around the province, and was in Gander last weekend, Feb. 25th, to give a presentation to SEA-NL's AGM.
DFO was asked to send a representative to speak on ELOGS, but the department declined.
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SEA-NL calls for elimination of province’s farcical system of fish pricing before fisheries lost
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Friday, July 15, 2022
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) is calling for the elimination of the provincial government's final-offer system of fish pricing in favour of direct negotiations between the union and processors until contracts are hammered out that both sides respect.