PASSING GRADE
Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd. gives bolstered conservation rules, social responsibility thumbs up
Louisbourg Seafood likes Fisheries Act changes.
Referring to Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd. as one of the “little fellas” in a multibillion-dollar industry, Dannie Hansen said the fish processor he works for approves of the changes ahead for the Fisheries Act.
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced plans on Tuesday to rollback changes made to the act by the Conservatives in 2012, and to also modernize the legislation by improving marine habitat conservation and protection safeguards for marine life.
The amendments tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday form the basis of a “good document” to protect all marine species, said Hansen, vice-president of sustainability for Louisbourg Seafoods.
“This time they’re looking at where the species reproduces and grows and restores itself — the whole habitat,” he said.
“They’re putting a great deal of money into bringing on a lot more scientists to help us in our data collection, which is extremely innovative.”
Ottawa plans to spend $284 million over the next five years to enforce new laws protecting habitat wherever fish are present.
The changes also allow for the restoration of comprehensive protections against harming any fish and marine habitat, rebuilding depleted fish stocks and strengthening the long-term protection of marine refuges for biodiversity.
“They seem to have protected and invested in the right things and they seem to have listened to us — the little fellas,” said Hansen, noting Louisbourg Seafoods would likely ask to speak to the amendments as the legislation is examined during the committee stage in Parliament.
He said the large multinational processor that wants to act “like a monopoly” might not be happy with the changes but “they’ll have to get over it.”
Large seafood buyers and processors have controlling agreements in place with some fishermen, which supplies a licensed fisherman with a boat and gear while the company reaps the profits from the catch.
The proposed Fisheries Act amendments aim to end that work-around arrangement between large corporations and fishermen who don’t fish independently.
The Fisheries Council of Canada, which represents small, mid-size and large commercial fisheries operations across the country, offered lukewarm acceptance of the changes saying it was “cautious but hopeful” the proposed legislation will ensure the industry is prosperous into the future.
“The amendments are farreaching and some implications may not appear for years to come,” Paul Lansbergen, president of the Fisheries Council of Canada, said in a release Tuesday.
“It is critical that we have an open and honest discussion to make sure we get it right.”
Louisbourg Seafoods’ operation
is about 72 per cent dependent on inshore fishermen selling their product to the company, Hansen said.
“We must respect them and make sure they’re viable and stay in the communities and they have succession plans for their licences where young people can afford to get in.”
Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Ltd. in New Haven, Victoria County, said the changes to the act specific to enshrining the owner-operator and fleet
separation policies into legislation will bring a greater level of confidence to the coastal communities where the independent inshore fishermen live.
“In the long-term good of the communities, the minister made the right decision in putting it into the legislation,” said Burke, who is also president of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, representing 70 buyers and processors across the province.
The owner-operator policy means individual fishermen are
required to fish with their licence and reap the financial benefits, while the fleet separation policy was meant to keep corporations from being both the harvester and processor.
Burke said he was travelling Tuesday and didn’t get a chance to look at the amendments in detail but plans to discuss it further when the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance board gathers today for a regularly scheduled meeting.