SKIPPER’S BLOG: The Many Faces of Fisheries

Okay, so where are we? Oh right.

We’ve been looking back at the ministers for the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Newfoundland and Labrador since 2003.

We were motivated to do so when we realized the current government, in power since 2003, has changed its fisheries ministers on average more than any other government since Confederation. In fact, when the current Minister Derrick Dalley eventually gets shuffled elsewhere (expect it within 15 months if the current average holds) the current administration will not just have had the most ministers on average, but also the most fisheries ministers PERIOD.

Joey Smallwood’s government lasted 23 years and had five fisheries ministers (a different minister every 4.6 years on average). The Frank Moores/Brian Peckford government lasted 17 years and produced eight ministers (an average of 2.1 years per minister). The Clyde Wells/Brian Tobin/Roger Grimes administration lasted 14 years and put six ministers in place (an average of 2.3 years per minister). And the Danny Williams/Kathy Dunderdale government, which has been in power for nine years, has produced seven fisheries ministers (a new minister every 1.3 years on average).

So far we have looked at the time spent in Fisheries by Trevor Taylor and Tom Rideout.

Today we move on to Tom Hedderson.

SFA and the MOU

If Tom Rideout’s colourful and wildly interesting term as Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister was worth two blog entries, then the next two ministers who held the job are really worth just one combined. But it’s a Monday so I’m splitting them up. It’s good to be the boss.

Tom Hedderson was the first in what has been a line of school teachers appointed to the Fisheries job in recent years. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – it’s just an interesting parallel that Hedderson, Clyde Jackman, Darin King and now Derrick Dalley are all teachers by trade.

But we digress.

What can you say about Tom Hedderson?

No really. What CAN you say about Tom Hedderson?

How about, he seemed like a heckuva nice guy, but he was hardly a dominant figure or a driver of change in the department. But at least he didn’t screw anything up completely.

Just after Hedderson was named to the job — which happened on Halloween in 2008 — he showed up at a meeting FFAW Inshore Council in St. John’s with deputy minister Alistair O’Reilly in tow. It was a brief chat wherein he reaffirmed that he was a rookie with lots to learn, and deferred any questions about department plans/position/policy to O’Reilly.

After the meeting, one of the fishermen in the room suggested it might be okay with Hedderson in charge.

“He doesn’t know one damn thing about the fishery, that’s for sure,” the fisherman quipped. “But maybe that’s better than some cowboy who thinks he’s got it all figured out. We’ll see I s’pose.”

Whatever the case, the little over a year Hedderson spent in the role was mostly uneventful, but it had its moments.

In January 2009 Hedderson threw out the idea of having a seafood marketing council, and let the processing sector vote on it. They voted against it, leaving Hedderson and the harvesting sector befuddled and irritated. Whatever reasons each side had for their position, it is worth noting that today, almost four years later, there is still no universal province-wide seafood marketing campaign of any kind.

There were also a few salvos fired at the federal government (a Williams’s government trademark for trying to win public support in NL) over their perceived inaction with the World Trade Organization over Europe’s pending vote to ban seal products, and also in relation to federal quotas for shrimp and seals.

And then in June 2009 Hedderson issued a snotty retort (you can read that HERE) to critics in the industry who were taking shots by suggesting government was sitting on its hands when it came to fisheries issues and not paying due attention to the file.

And just like that, in November 2009, Hedderson was gone.

If Trevor Taylor’s term as minister was all about RMS and Tom Rideout’s revolved around FPI, then to continue the three letter theme, Hedderson’s time in charge really amounted to SFA.

And then along came Clyde Jackman.

The three letters that permeate his tenure?

How about the (Fishing Industry) MOU, which remains DOA.

We'll discuss that in our next entry.