Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to the committee for taking the time to hear from the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union today.
Our union represents over 14,000 working people in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the vast majority of whom are employed in the seasonal fishing industry.
I'm here today on behalf of the 4R Gulf of St. Lawrence shrimp and otter trawl fleet based on the west coast ands the northern peninsula of our province.
The majority of this fleet of owner-operators live at least three to four hours from the next major centre. They live in a rural, culturally important way of living that is based around the inshore fishery. This fishery of northern shrimp for the past couple of decades and longer has provided a modest and sustainable standard of living to the region; however, climate change and changing water temperatures have resulted in an ecosystem shift. The northern shrimp resource has declined drastically in recent years, while redfish populations have grown substantially, and redfish have become a major predator of the shrimp.
These harvesters have no other fisheries in which to diversify their businesses and have to put considerable effort into preparing for a return to redfish as a just transition. Without redfish, this fleet has no future. Many are facing bankruptcy if they are not given a viable path forward. The path was available and then wasted with Minister Lebouthillier's January 26 decision.
Allocating the entire coastal-based fleet less than 25% of Unit 1 redfish is a far cry from the at least 50% needed to ensure financial solvency and economic sustainability for the region. Nearly 60% of the share will go to the corporate-owned offshore fleet, a small group of factory freezer draggers that will not land or process product in Canada, rather than the 30 or so in our province and others, as you have heard here, in Quebec, New Brunswick and throughout Unit 1, independent owner-operators who support the sustainability of resource-dependent coastal communities.
The allocation key announced for the emerging commercial Unit 1 redfish fishery reflects that of the historical redfish fishery of the 1970s and 1980s and is not comparable to the present day. Today the offshore sector is fundamentally different, with vessels now designed to replace onshore processing with factory freezer equipment to process seafood at sea. This was not the case in the 1970s and 1980s.
It is important to emphasize that the landings of the offshore fleet are not subject to minimum processing requirements. They concentrate profits with other corporations and not workers, and the offshore is already the largest quota holder for fisheries in Canada.
In contrast, every vessel in the inshore fleet is a small business on the water that is operating under the federal owner-operator requirements as well as under provincial legislation that requires that all landings must undergo primary processing at an onshore facility within the province. A majority allocation to the offshore fleet not only denies inshore harvesters of opportunities but also denies hundreds of onshore plant workers meaningful work and adjacent communities of crucial tax revenues, severing the community's connection to the resource almost entirely.
Our union believes that the minister has very clearly failed in her responsibility under the federal Fisheries Act by not prioritizing social, economic and cultural factors as well as the preservation and promotion of the independence of independent licence holders.
As cited in 1977 by the Honourable Roméo LeBlanc, a man who is known as the greatest minister of fisheries in our history and for our organization and members and was then the Liberal minister of fisheries and oceans, in a speech explaining his decision to ban offshore vessels from outside the gulf from being allowed to fish inside the gulf, said, and I quote:
Who gets first crack at these fish? Here I must say that I have a clear bias for the inshore fisherman. Not because of some romantic regard, not because of his picture on the calendars, but because he cannot travel far after fish, because he depends on fishing for his income, because his community in turn depends on fisheries being protected.
DFO has been outspoken in their commitment to ensuring sustainably managed fisheries; however, no such work has been undertaken by the offshore to establish viable harvesting methods that do not impact other valuable fisheries and habitat in the gulf.
Over the last decade, inshore harvester organizations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence have contributed hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of work towards developing a sustainable redfish fishery for the inshore fleet. Our union has worked with harvesters via funding through the Atlantic fisheries fund to develop sustainable gear modifications and practices to nearly eliminate Atlantic halibut bycatch to demonstrate ocean stewardship.
In conclusion, without an alternative fishery, any reduction in access to northern shrimp has a direct and detrimental effect to communities on the west coast and northwest coast of our province. The 4R Gulf of St. Lawrence shrimp otter trawl fleet has the capacity—along with our colleagues, whom you've heard from here—to land the entire redfish quota, and the innovation from the experimental fishery to do so skilfully.
To summarize, we believe that a reversal of this decision is warranted to ensure fish stocks are managed to the benefit of those who live adjacent to the resource for the betterment of Canadian communities and Canadian workers.
Thank you.