Province repeats calls for food fishery fairness from federal government

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is again calling for the federal government to stop treating the province differently when it comes to the recreational fishing of cod.

Trevor Taylor, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, says that the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has a blatantly different set of rules for Nova Scotia. The only Newfoundland and Labrador recreational fishery will open along the south coast of the island between Cape St. Mary�s and Burgeo, with a seasonal limit of 15 codfish per person. However, there are few such regulations in Nova Scotia.

�People in Newfoundland and Labrador deserve to be treated like other Atlantic Canadians,� said Minister Taylor, who is in Stephenville for Cabinet meetings. �Off southern Nova Scotia, residents can catch up to five fish per day, every day of the week. There is also no licence and tag regime in Nova Scotia. Not only are we subject to additional fees and regulations, but in Newfoundland and Labrador, a food fishery is illegal in many areas where there are enough fish for DFO to allow a commercial fishery. How is this fair?

�Where is the equality? Why are their no uniform rules? Newfoundland and Labrador has a profound cultural and historical attachment to the cod fishery. As a government, we are saying that people should be permitted to take part in a recreational fishery when the stocks can sustain such small catches. We are again calling on DFO to immediately change its unjust policies. Atlantic Canadians must be subject to the same management rules and conservation objectives, no matter where they live. Residents in all DFO regions should have the equal right to catch a codfish for the dinner table.�

The minister is calling for an end to the Recreational Groundfish Licence Pilot Program that was introduced in 2001, and does not rule out involving government lawyers if necessary. �Log books, licensing and tags, and a fee system were all introduced in Newfoundland and Labrador on a trial basis in 2001 to get some feedback before being used throughout Atlantic Canada, or being dropped altogether. It�s high time for DFO to introduce this for all of Atlantic Canada or to apply Nova Scotia�s rules here. We�re prepared to look at our Constitutional options if we do not see prompt action.�

NOTE TO EDITORS: The province also clarified its position in a news release issued July 14, which is available online at www.gov.nl.ca/releases/2005/fishaq/0714n04.htm

Media contact: Alex Marland, Communications, 729-0048, 690-6047

2005 07 25                       3:20 p.m.