Fisherman's Road

The Conservative government of Stephen Harper seems hell bent on eliminating the fleet separation and owner operator policies that protect the traditional Newfoundland and Labrador fishery. Read my stand here . On Monday, the Conservative members of the Housing of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans voted down two motions – one to support the policies, and the other to carry out a study of the impact of eliminating them. Notice of Motion – New Democratic Fisheries Critic Fin Donnelly Feb. 29th, 2012 That because fleet separation and owner-operator policy is critical to coastal communities and protecting independent fishers in the inshore fishery, the Committee reaffirms its support for fleet separation and owner-operator vessels in the inshore fishery and opposes any move to eliminate this policy. Motion by Liberal MP Lawrence MacAulay That, because fleet separation and owner-operator policies form the backbone of the inshore and midshore fisheries on the E...

The following news release was issued by my office today, March 20, 2012. St. John’s – NDP MP Ryan Cleary (St. John’s South-Mount Pearl) is encouraged by the recent support from leading Canadian fishery scientist Dr. Jeffrey Hutchings (above) for an inquiry into the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery. Hutchings, who recently chaired the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on Sustaining Canada`s Marine Biodiversity, said an inquiry is necessary to learn from the mistakes of the groundfish collapse so it never happens again, and to start the rebuilding process. “Despite the collapse of northern cod and several other fish in the early 1990’s, these stocks still have no rebuilding plans, rebuilding timelines, or science-determined recovery targets,” said Dr. Hutchings. “While other cod fisheries, such as Norway’s, have seen tremendous rebound, most of the stocks off Newfoundland and Labrador remain at critically low levels.” Hutchings calls the depletion of Atlantic cod, “the grea...

“My attitude always was patients first and the hell with anybody else. If you're going to treat them, treat them the same as you want to be treated yourself.” — Dr. Nigel Rusted, a prominent NL physician, who died Sunday at 104. Rusted was born in Salvage, Bonavista Bay, and was a member of the inaugural class of Memorial University in 1925. He earned his medical degree from Dalhousie University and served as health officer for two summers aboard the SS Kyle .  Dr. Nigel Rusted, centre, with granddaughter Angela Hyde, left, a MD/PhD student at Memorial, and Dr. Jennifer Connor. The above quote is taken from today's (March 19th)  thetelegram.com . 

The following letter to the editor is published in today's Saturday Telegram (March 17th). The above shot by Paul Daly was taken during the 2008 federal election with fisherman Sam Lee of Petty Harour. The elimination of the owner-operator and fleet-separation policies — “sacred pillars” of the East Coast fishery that the Conservative government is said to be considering removing — would trigger the end of the traditional inshore fishery. There would be fewer fishermen, making less money, translating into less economic return for already hurting outports. It’s thought that the Harper government intends to replace the fleet separation and owner-operator policies with a system of individual transferable quotas (ITQS), which have been in place in British Columbia’s halibut fishery since the early 1990s. A 2009 B.C. study — The Elephant in the Room: The Hidden Costs of Leasing Individual Transferable Fishing Quotas — concluded that ITQs limit efficiency, stifle innov...

The following letter to the editor appears in today's (March 15th) St. John's Telegram . The above picture was taken last fall in Petty Harbour with fishermen Doug Howlett and son Jonathan Howlett after a morning on the water. Dear editor, No wonder fishing people on the Atlantic coast of Canada are up in arms over the federal government’s dangerous new effort to mess with the fishery. They know what happened on the other side of the country, up and down the B.C. coast, where fishing boat graveyards litter the scene. These boats were abandoned as a result of disastrous fishing licence rules that led to the fishery being controlled in too few hands. In fact, licences and fish quota are now often owned not by fishing boat operators but by seafood corporations. Today, a fishery that had been the key engine of the rural coastal economy is instead, believe it or not, largely controlled out of B.C.’s cities. This sad situation decimated many coastal communities that n...

I gave the following speech on Sunday, March 11 th , at the annual general meeting of the St. John’s South-Mount Pearl NDP Riding Association, held at the Battery Hotel. The above picture (Andrew Vaughan, The Canadian Press) with the late Jack Layton was taken during the lead up to the May 2011 federal election.  Good afternoon and welcome to the annual general meeting of the St. John’s South-Mount Pearl New Democratic Party Riding Association.  Or Mount Pearl-St. John’s-South riding association, depending on where I’m speaking. It’s been 10 months since this riding went New Democrat — went orange — in the May 2011 election.  Ideally, we would have held the meeting earlier, but it’s been busy trying to protect Canada from Stephen Harper’s agenda, a Conservative agenda that will change the face of the country, an agenda that will shred Canada’s reputation as a leader of nations, as the gage by which global character is measured.  Unless we take a stand....

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, I, along with NDP Transport critic Olivia Chow , raised questions in the House of Commons regarding Cougar Flight 491. Almost four months later - on the 3rd anniversary of the tragic crash of Cougar 491 - and the federal government and Transport Canada have yet to provide answers. Cleary (St. John’s South-Mount Pearl): Mr. Speaker, 17 people died on March 12, 2009, when Cougar flight 491 went down after loss of oil pressure. Less than a year before, the same thing happened to an Australian helicopter, but Transport Canada failed to take action. After the Newfoundland tragedy, the Transportation Safety Board recommended that all Cougars must be able to run dry for 30 minutes, but the Sikorsky still fails the test. Mr. Speaker, why are we giving the Cougars a free pass at the risk of the lives of offshore workers? Response from Transport Minister Denis Lebel : Mr. Speaker, this was a very tragic accident. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. My depart...

Captain Abram Kean was the most successful seal hunter in Newfoundland history. In 1922, American writer and explorer George Allan England traveled with Kean aboard his sealing ship, the Terra Nova , publishing a book of his account two years later. Vikings of the Ice (the title was later changed to The Greatest Hunt in the World) is the only eye-witness account ever written of the daily life aboard a wooden-wall, or sealing vessel. On signing on “The hardships some of these men suffer even before they reach St. John’s and ‘sign on’ would kill the average American. For days before the sailing of the fleet, hundreds of them pile into St. John’s. Some walk all the way from home and some travel on the partly snowed-in, irregular streak of rust that Newfoundland calls a railroad. Many of them walk forty or fifty miles to reach even this rust, braving blizzards that scourge and flay. They carry their pitiably meager equipment in ditty bags. A lot of them, in the spring of 1922, got mar...

Until now, the only image on this blog has been the street sign — Fisherman’s Road, where I grew up in the 1970s in Riverhead, Harbour Grace. Today, another image has been added — that of a codfish (see above), which is actually a link to an enormous amount of fishery information. The link takes you to Making Waves: A discussion about the future of the NL fishery. In December 2011, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development — an officer of the House of Commons who reports directly to the federal Auditor General — released a study for managing fisheries for sustainability. One section was entitled, “What questions should parliamentarians ask?” Here are the specific questions: “What past audits have been done of these fisheries by Parliament, by the Office of the Auditor General, or by the Departmental Internal Audit Groups? Have the problems identified in those reports been addressed successfully?” My office took the challenge of answering those questions. But...

First things first, let me be clear: my motivation in political life is not an MP pension. Which is what makes the current controversy so ironic. What drives me is not a handshake or hug from the Government of Canada, golden or otherwise. My ambition is to improve Newfoundland and Labrador’s place in Canada, which I’ve focused on my entire career, and, on a grander scale as a federal politician, to help protect/improve the Canadian way of life. That's my motivator. A pension is nowhere near top of mind. Late last week I was interviewed by CBC Radio about the MP pension plan, and at one point, I said that Members of Parliament deserve a pension of more than $28,000 after six years in office. To be frank, I misspoke. MPs deserve fair compensation, but should we qualify for a pension after just 6 years in office? In my opinion, the answer is no. The ultimate decision should not be left to MPs, but with an independent review. How does the Canadian MP pension package stack u...

The latest illegal fishing citation issued to a foreign trawler on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland was recorded on Dec. 27, when the Novaya Zemlya , a Russian Federation vessel, was caught with 2 tonnes of cod on board. The Russian Federation had caught its 647-tonne cod quota by April last year, and the cod fishery was closed at the time the citation was issued. It will be interesting to see what penalty is imposed against the Russian trawler, although such information is hard to come by. Under NAFO rules, it’s up to the home country of a foreign trawler cited with illegal fishing to actually enforce penalties. In the past, DFO has refused to reveal the penalties imposed by foreign countries against trawlers cited for illegal fishing, saying the release of such information could damage “international relations.” Which obviously trump Newfoundland and Labrador relations. DFO maintains a website that lists all citations against foreign fishing vessels under the Northwest Atlantic...

The following letter to the editor appeared in the March 3rd, edition of the Saturday Telegram. I wish to respond to the Feb. 29 letter to the editor, "The fishery must change," by federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield. I agree that the fishery must change, but I no more trust the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to manage that change than I would trust a seal herd at a sushi bar. DFO's management incompetence played a huge role in the fall of our fisheries, and now we're supposed to put our faith in a new minister with nine months experience — backed by the same bureaucratic culture that brought the fishery to its knees in the first place. The fundamental problem with the Grand Banks of Newfoundland is a lack of fish, and the will by the government of Canada to rebuild the resource. In his letter, Ashfield says straight out that his department can't create more fish in the sea. But his department hasn't even tried to create the cond...