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| CURRENT STORIES IN PRINT EDITION |
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A Slippery Slope:
Hundreds Out of Work as OCI Shutters Plants; Might Just Be the Beginning of Painful Processing Rationalization
By Jamie Baker
It seems a rather cruel irony that OCI has decided to shut down two Newfoundland plants and put more than 400 out of work in places that should be absolute strongholds for the fish processing business in Canada.
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Marystown’s fish plant was considered the ultimate in groundfish processing, probably in the world. When it was owned by Fishery Products International (FPI) it was commonly referred to as the “mother ship” of the company. It was a huge, modern facility with upwards of 600 or more employees at its peak using the very latest in cutting edge equipment and skills in processing fish.
Gone.
Port Union, NL, was home to OCI’s modern shrimp processing plant, but it was also the place where the labour movement in Newfoundland and Labrador was born. It was where William Coaker set up shop to give people working in the fishery a collective voice.
Also, gone.
To read the rest of this article, check out this month's issue of The Navigator.
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Fleshing Out the Details:
Lobster Licence Buy-out
By Jamie Baker
It was with much fanfare the Federal Government and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador trumpeted the newly green-lighted lobster sustainability plan — which includes the all-important licence buy-out aspect — for the province back in late November.
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For the lobster harvesters involved, it was less about trumpets and more about sighs of relief to see the program actually announced — especially since a good number of them had voted to reduce their traps this year with the hopes the deal would get approved.
In the end, the two levels of government each spent $9 million on the plan, while the harvesters themselves contributed an additional $11.4 million through lobster trap reductions. The plan includes the voluntary enterprise retirement program, a science and conservation component and the aforementioned trap reductions.
To read the rest of this article, check out this month's issue of The Navigator.
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Forcing Out the Little Guy:
Veteran Fisherman Condemns Government Help for Big Business
By Caroline B. Norwood
Boats were leaving the South Cove wharf at Freeport, NS when I got there shortly after 6 a.m. It was the morning after a “weather bomb” had landed on South Western Nova Scotia. The very strong winds had died out during the night but I could hear the seas crashing against the nearby breakwater.
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It would be a lumpy ride out there today for boats leaving from this harbour located at the end of Long Island near Digby.
At the end of the wharf, four boats were tied abreast. The inside boat was Island Lady G, owned by Capt. Frank Gillis. Next to him was the Lesa Marie III, owned by Capt. Dean Albright. Both boats were brightly lit and scenes of great activity. One person was cutting bait, another moving plastic crates. Capt. Frank, or Frankie as he is known locally, seemed to be checking on everything as the last minute preparations for a day of lobstering were completed.
To read the rest of this article, check out this month's issue of The Navigator. |
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