Thank you very much.
Good day, gentlemen, ladies.
My name is Norma Richardson, and with me is Nellie Baker Stevens. We represent the Eastern Shore Fishermen's Protection Association. We are located along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. Our membership consists of 230. We go from Canso in Guysborough County to Halifax harbour. This is considered region 3. We are accredited under the provincial legislation with the Fisheries Organizations Support Act. We also have local fish plants and buyers as associate members. We cover two LFAs, 32 and 31B.
I would like to thank the committee for hearing us today. Although we would have liked more time to prepare, hopefully we'll cover most of the points.
We made presentations to the FRCC during their consultations on lobster, and I also attended the sessions for the final consultations. I felt that the report that was prepared did not totally reflect all the points from those sessions, specifically in terms of the conservation measures taking place throughout the different regions.
Any initiative that is entered into has to have stakeholder support. A critical component of lobster conservation is the adoption by local stakeholder groups of an active stewardship role, and this was quoted by Gerry Ennis, from Newfoundland.
In our region in the past, LFAs 32 and 31B did not agree with DFO's conservation measures. The landscape of each harbour varies. An increase in carapace measure will give different results according to the harbour that has a composition of larger-sized measures compared with harbours with a smaller size.
Fishermen are adamant that the conservation measures be equal throughout the LFAs. The benefits and costs should be the same. When the LFAs and representatives worked independently, there was never a consensus. With the LFAs' reps meeting once a year and not having the ability to hear what was happening elsewhere, it was hard to make an informed decision on behalf of other fishermen.
The association was asked by the lobster representatives in the area to bring the parties together to work toward a plan that would be satisfactory to everyone, or at least to the majority. This is when the idea of v-notching was hatched. This was the only conservation measure that each fisherman would have to give the same amount of effort toward.
In 2000, LFAs 32 and 31B, more than 200 lobster fishermen, collected 220 pounds of large unburied female lobsters, more than 110 millimetres, from their catch. These lobsters were then v-notched and released back to the ocean. All v-notch releases were verified by an independent body, the Fishermen and Scientists Research Society.
This project is funded 100% by the fishermen. Over the past nine years, these fishermen have released more than 250,000 pounds of large unburied female lobsters with an approximate value of $1.5 million. They have also tagged more than 30,000 large unburied female lobsters. And today they still see some of those tagged lobsters that they released in 2000.
Information has been gathered over the years on lobster movement, the number of buried females with v-notches, and the number without v-notches. More than 14,000 tagged v-notched lobsters have been recaptured and released, in most cases. So we know they have survived the v-notch and the tagging process.
These fishermen are open to providing science with other information that they may require. It is also very important to note that we have 100% compliance by the fishermen in this project.
Our definition of a v-notch is any mutilation on a particular flipper on the tail of the lobster--the third flipper over, or whatever. And the lobster fishery one-size conservation method does not fit all areas. In LFA 31A, they have been doing a different conservation method. Ginny is not going to be here, but I'm sure she'll send in her report.
We fish a maximum of 63 days and have a trap limit of 250. This is a spring fishery. We fish from April 19 to June 20. Our fishery is well-known by the buyers for providing quality lobsters. However, we normally don't see this reflected in the price. In fact, we get a lower price than they do here in Southwest Nova.
This year, as you know, does not look good. Our fishermen cannot survive on a $3-a-pound lobster. We have to compare the eastern shore, with landings in some areas as low as 7,000 pounds, with 50,000 pounds or more in this area.
Our fishermen have been under a groundfish moratorium since 1992, and lobster, at this point, is their main source of income.
We have been successful in becoming permanent in the snow crab fishery. This is a help, but because we have approximately 20 fishermen sharing one licence, the income is very small compared to what they would have if each of them had a licence.
The price of bait and fuel has increased, while the price for our lobster has declined. Fishermen have to worry about boat insurance and maintenance. We are also heavily downloaded with fees from DFO and cannot handle anymore.
We do not expect to see our groundfish increase due to the explosion of the seal population. The gentleman is not here, but his hat is quite interesting.
When there are no groundfish, we are hearing that the seals may turn to lobster as their source of food, and this would be devastating to the industry.
Dockside monitoring is not something our fishermen embrace, as they see it as not working. Most of the lobster fishermen land at their own wharves, and there are several hundred of these along our coast. It would make it nearly impossible to send a monitor everywhere. It would also be hard on the fishermen to make them land at designated wharves because of the distances along our coast and the amount of time they would have to get there. This would lead back to adding more expense and more time to their already exhausting day.
We deal with local buyers and try to keep the money within our communities. We know we are in tough economic times and will work on behalf of our fishermen to get the best price and allow for competition among the buyers. These fishermen are all independent businessmen and should be receiving a fair price for the top-quality product they have.
We do not support an ITQ or IQ system in this area. We do not support quotas at all. They do not think this will help the markets or the fishery. It would just put more control in a few hands. Yes, it may take some people out of the fishery, but that quota will just go to someone else, so it will do nothing for the resource.
We only ask to be allowed to make a living, and although today lobster is our main resource, we are all multi-species licence holders and pursue other fisheries that are available, such as our small groundfish quota, snow crabs, herring, and so on.
We have been following closely the MSC process on sustainability. Our fishermen have always tried to look after the resource and the habitat so that there would be something there for their children and grandchildren. We are now thrown into an MSC or other traceability and sustainable theme. We have no problem working towards this; we have a problem with the astronomical cost to the industry for certification. It seems that once we pay around $500,000 for a certification that says we are sustainable, in five years' time we will have to start the process all over again. This will, in my mind, take away from fishermen being sustainable, as there will be no one left to worry about.
This has been promoted as a way to increase our market share. We feel that this alone is not enough. We need more aggressive marketing strategies as well as the industry working together, at least on this initiative, to help us move forward. In reality, the processors and buyers need the fishermen to supply the product, and we need these people to buy our product. This is an important hurdle we have to get over.
According to GPI Atlantic, to be sustainable we need indicators to assess the effectiveness of the management rules under which the fishery is governed. We also need organizations to implement these rules for managing the fishery, be it government or non-governmental organizations, such as fishermen's associations. In general, they say that indicators need to examine several things: the manageability and enforceability of the regulations; whether there is a match between the level of resources society is going to allocate to management and what is needed to accomplish that management effectively; and the actual resources available to management. Notwithstanding this, there is a lack of resources available to industry to be effective in the necessary areas.
We are now hearing about the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation closing. This has been a very useful organization that has provided the industry with great projects and much needed leadership, not only in Newfoundland but in all of Atlantic Canada and Quebec. At this crucial time in the industry, we do not want these types of groups to shut down. That is poor timing on the funder's part.
My presentation is very short. Thank you for the opportunity to express our views on the lobster industry.