In the political arena of Canada crab licence has become more important as the Liberals are complaining that previous Tory fisheries minister Loyola Hearn gave a Cape Breton fisherman a $1.5-million snow crab licence as a “political gift” before the last election. Hearn and Gail Shea, the current fisheries minister, commented that everything is on the track and the fisherman himself says the previous Liberal government is really to blame for not giving him the licence he deserved in the first place.
It is said that other crab fishermen are upset with the ruling that gave a licence to Tim Rhyno of Scotsville, Inverness County. That adds one more licensee to the 59 who are allowed to fish in Area 23, a crab-fishing area off southeastern Cape Breton. In the House of Commons on Thursday, Liberal fisheries critic Gerry Byrne said the government overturned the decision of the independent fisheries licence appeal board in giving a crab licence to Rhyno — a move that would not have been possible under the Fisheries Act the Conservatives are trying to pass.
Byrne, a Newfoundland MP, questioned whether Shea will suspend Rhyno’s licence and uphold the principles of her own proposed Fisheries Act, or will she suspend her own Fisheries Act and approve the licence? Josephine Kennedy, who represents some other crab fishermen in the area, said the fishery was supposed to have been closed to new entrants in 2005.
Reacting on this situation the Liberals said they suspect the current situation might be a case of a Tory minister helping a Tory fisherman. Rhyno said he wasn’t a Conservative until this happened, but he is now. Byrne said the decision to grant the licence doesn’t make sense, given that Fisheries and Oceans Canada is trying to reduce the number of licences in the snow crab fishery, and a new Fisheries Act would remove the power of the minister to take this kind of discretionary action.
