The Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources, is pleased to welcome Mary’s Harbour fish harvester and community leader Alton Rumbolt to the province’s Fisheries Advisory Council. Mr. Rumbolt participated in his inaugural meeting of the council on October 19. For a biography of Mr. Rumbolt, see the Backgrounder below.

Established in June 2017 as a Way Forward commitment to provide policy advice to the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources on strategic fisheries and/or aquaculture issues, the Council has held several meetings to date. It has developed a position on the ‘principal of adjacency’, as it relates to the Federal Fisheries Act, and is examining issues related to cod industry revitalization, including environmental sustainability, harvesting, harvester succession and attracting new people into the industry, processing, quality, innovation and marketing.

The council is represented by harvesters, processors, the aquaculture industry, research experts, the Federal Government and the general public. In addition to Mr. Rumbolt, the council also includes: Bill Wells, Chair; Keith Sullivan, President of the Fish Food and Allied Workers; Derek Butler; Executive Director of the Association of Seafood Producers; Francis Littlejohn, Executive Director of the Seafood Producers of Newfoundland and Labrador; Glenn Blackwood, Vice-President, Marine Institute; Mark Lane, Executive Director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association; and at-large members Janice Ryan, Valerie Johnson, Brad Watkins, and Joann Smyth, Director of Policy with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Quotes
“I am delighted to welcome Alton Rumbolt, to the Fisheries Advisory Council. Mr. Rumbolt brings a wealth of operational fishing industry expertise and community perspective to the Council from Labrador. I am confident he will be an integral member who will provide sound advice.”
Honourable Gerry Byrne
Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources

“Alton Rumbolt is a valued addition to the Fisheries Advisory Council, and I look forward to working with him as we work to create an action plan for the fishing industry that focuses on environmental sustainability, harvesting, processing, quality, innovation and marketing.”
Bill Wells
Chair, Fisheries Advisory Council

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Media contact
Kathy Dicks-Peyton
Fisheries and Land Resources
709-729-2538, 699-1982
kathydickspeyton@gov.nl.ca

BACKGROUNDER

Biography of Alton Rumbolt
Alton Rumbolt is an independent fish harvester from Mary’s Harbour in Labrador. While serving as Mayor of the Town of Mary’s Harbour, he is the current Chair of the Mary’s Harbour Fishermen’s Committee, Chair of the Harbour Authority of Mary’s Harbour, an inshore council member for Labrador fishers with the Fish Food and Allied Workers, president of the Mary’s Harbour Lion’s Club and past vice-president of the Combined Councils of Labrador.