Facilitator looks to end fish fight
By Nancy Willis, The Guardian
theguardian.pe.ca
SOURIS — Island inshore fishermen are optimistic Allister Surette will enable them to get their side of the herring dispute heard in Ottawa.
But if, after all this, there is still no resolution of a disputed zone line, they say they will be back on the wharf in Souris, 1,000 strong.
The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association and representatives from the Coalition of Fishing Families met with Surette Friday in Charlottetown. The independent facilitator was appointed by Ottawa to flush out the real story behind the zone line dispute, and the conflict between inshore fishermen from New Brunswick and P.E.I., and the large New Brunswick herring seiners.
While on the Island, Surette held discussions with provincial Fisheries Minister Kevin MacAdam, federal fisheries area director Sandra Gaudet, the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association and a group of inshore fishermen directly involved in last fall’s blockade of the seiners at the Souris wharf. At that time, police riot squads were called in, massive quantities of fish wasted and fishermen polarized against one another.
At issue is the federal government’s refusal to keep New Brunswick’s large corporate seiner fleet from fishing too close to the inshore grounds in all parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In particular, is the dispute over a zone line off Prince Edward Island’s northeastern shore that was accidentally re-adjusted in the 1980s due to a bureaucratic bumble in translation from one official language to another.
The new line allowed the huge seiners into the inshore waters close to shore. Fishermen fear the seiners are wiping out local herring stocks, and destroying the lobster fishing grounds.
Surette’s job is to get both sides to clearly define their concerns and issues. He will compile a concise version of these and submit them to the federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans by the end of January.
Souris fisherman Terry Carter described the facilitator as an “open-minded person, here to hear our side of the story, and take that information up the line.”
He said Island fishermen have not been listened to for the last four years and DFO has done nothing except pit the two groups against one another over this issue, as evidenced last fall in Souris.
Carter believes Surette’s work may be fruitful since the document he produces will be reviewed by the inshore fishermen in both provinces and forwarded directly to the minister's office.
“Before, the information trail stopped at Moncton. From Moncton to Ottawa, we knew nothing. At least with Mr. Surette, we know the document will be forwarded on,” he said.
However, if there is no resolution to the zone line issue, Carter said they will be back on the wharf next October.
“There has to be a hard political decision made and if the line is not changed for the sake of conservation, I’d say 99 per cent of the fishermen, including the Coalition of Fishing Families, will back that up.”
While meeting with MacAdam, the two discussed the line change, and the lack of DFO’s active involvement in the recent herring disputes.
“Federal fisheries was expecting problems at least three months before the event, and spent the time preparing for it with the RCMP,’’ MacAdam said.“I want to know why we weren’t spending those months dealing together to resolve something before it happened.”
MacAdam said Surette also addressed questions raised by New Brunswick as to why he, as a representative of government, was on the wharf and playing such an active role during the confrontations.
MacAdam said it’s his job to represent the fishers of P.E.I.
“What did they want me to do, shut my mouth, and stay home and do nothing? As government, we have to be an advocate for the industry,” said the minister.
He said he was very clear throughout the whole process fishermen's concerns were front and centre, as well as the need to maintain very peaceful demonstrations.
“The province did not advocate breaking the law, but he seemed to get the perspective from New Brunswick that I was a ring leader in saying ‘go break the law’,” said MacAdam. “If DFO and the federal minister’s office had been listening to my comments and taking an active role during the disturbance, they would have known what the role of the province was.”
MacAdam also pointed out to Surette he does not want the socio-economic issue of seiners having to supply work for New Brunswick fish plants superseding conservation and jeopardizing Prince Edward Island’s inshore fishery.
“Look what happened to the groundfishery. DFO and government made decisions to keep a ground fishery active with the dragging and seining industries and look where we are now.
“Nobody’s fishing groundfish. And I’ll be damned if any other province had their inshore threatened, that they wouldn’t stand up to fight to maintain what they’ve got as well,” he said.
Surette had little to tell the media other than say there are many issues and he expects this to be a long process.
“I hope to come up with a report that will open up a dialogue and lead to an orderly fishery in the future,” he said.
He would not say whether he had unearthed any background material about the line change back in the early 1980s.
“We cannot talk about process, but the report will become a public document,” he said.
Since the federal minister’s office has already been flooded with information on the concerns and issues surrounding the herring seiner dispute, Surette was asked whether this fact-finding mission is simply a stalling tactic to delay any decision one way or the other until the upcoming federal election.
“I have no idea. I was hired to do a job and document what I hear, and to identify areas of consensus,” he said. |
