It is found that lobster fishermen are plying the waters around Prince Edward Island looking for the once lucrative lobster. In order to check this Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan pitched a plan to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty that would see the federal government loan the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association millions of dollars to buy back lobster licences.
The plan is called ‘self-rationalization plan, in which the fishermen would then pay that loan back by having a fee per pound attached to their catches for years to come. But to its dismay the proposal met with stiff opposition from some fishermen, and had the executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association claiming that the proposal had not been brought to his attention.
On the contrary Francis Morrissey, a member of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association’s own board, takes exception to Ed Frenette’s claim that he knew nothing about the proposal. Morrissey told that he is one of three fishermen to sit on a special committee of the Fishermen’s Association examining ways to rationalization the industry, or in other words reduce the number of fishermen on the hunt for lobsters.
Morrissey informed that fishermen group called on the federal and provincial governments to come up with loans to help rationalize the industry. He added that rationalization is part of a five-point plan announced by the P.E.I. government earlier this month.
