It is told that the province was focusing too much attention on oil when the fishery and forestry industries are facing their worst season in years. The Ship Cove small boat fisherman averaged half a lumpfish per net during a season he spent some $2,000 gearing up for and his Employment Insurance ran out in late April. John Regular opined that for the past eight weeks he had no income.
It is said that nearly 60 fishermen from Boat Harbour to Noddy Bay who protested outside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans building are in a particularly bad position. They complain of not having the access to west coast lobster licences or east coast crab licences. Therefore their incomes rely almost entirely on lumpfish, cod and seals, with occasional earnings from mackerel, herring and capelin. The seal hunt this year was a complete bust with very few pelts being bought at a low price, lumpfish never showed up and now cod has gone down to 50 cents per pound for top quality amongst the few willing to buy it.
said Roland Hedderson of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ ( FFAW) union, told that Provincial fisheries minister Tom Hedderson affirmed they would assist plant workers and crew but these fellows are individual enterprise owners, family affairs. He also said that these fellows won’t qualify for the federally announced lobster assistance package either because they don’t have lobster licences.
The FFAW is demanding the immediate extension of an extra five weeks of EI benefits to fishermen to help them survive the short term and that they be allowed to base their 2009 claim upon 2008 earnings because few are expected to earn enough off the fishery this year to qualify. Frustrations boiled over as fishermen talked about the perceived regulatory excesses making their industry and lifestyle impossible.
