NLIS 6
May 17, 2005
(Fisheries and Aquaculture)
Government committed
to crab sharing offer
The Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador is standing by its offer of a modified sharing system for
the crab fishery.
"We stand by our April 29 offer to reduce the length of the sharing
pilot project to one year," says Trevor Taylor, Minister of
Fisheries and Aquaculture. "We stand by our commitment to establish
a monitoring committee to oversee the sharing project�s
implementation. A team of harvester, fish plant worker, government,
and processor representatives will gather information about the
strengths and weaknesses of the system. At the end of the fishing
season, the committee chair will recommend how to proceed for 2006.
That chair, as announced on May 10, will be Richard Cashin, the
former head of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers. Let there be no
mistake. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador made this
commitment, and we stand by it."
Minister Taylor believes that the involvement of Mr. Cashin will
help ensure that industry views are reflected in the assessment of
what is essentially a three-month pilot project.
"Richard Cashin is widely trusted as an impartial person with an
intimate knowledge of the fishing industry and its role in rural
Newfoundland and Labrador. As chair, he will be tasked with
steering, evaluating, and ultimately either accepting, adjusting, or
rejecting a sharing system," says the minister. "We did not take the
decision to introduce a pilot project in resource sharing lightly
and we all want to get a fishery going as soon as possible. But it's
unfortunate that, based on some of their recent comments, members on
the opposite side of the House of Assembly would rather play
politics than see a stronger fishing industry and more stable rural
economies."
The Raw Material Sharing (RMS) system is the latest effort by the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to strengthen the province's
fishing industry by following the recommendations of the Fish
Processing
Review Commission (Dunne Report). Previous policy changes have
included hiring more inspectors, eliminating unused fish processing licences, and making the licence decision-making process more open,
transparent, and accountable.
Media contact: Alex Marland, Communications (709) 729-3733, 690-6047
2005 05 17
4:45 p.m. |