Mi'kmaw fisheries manager, environmentalist appointed to international tuna quota agency
Canada has appointed a veteran Mi'kmaw fisheries manager to the interna‐ tional agency that sets quotas for commercial species of tuna and sword‐ fish in the Atlantic.
Hubert Nicholas of Mem‐ bertou First Nation was named as one of two com‐ missioners representing Canadian interests at the In‐ ternational Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) over the weekend.
He joins another recent appointee, environmentalist Katie Schleit of the non-profit conservation group Oceans North. Commissioners are appointed for two-year ter‐ ms.
ICCAT is responsible for managing and protecting transboundary fish in the At‐ lantic. These are highly mi‐ gratory, open ocean or pelag‐ ic species.
They include three species of tuna and swordfish collec‐ tively worth tens of millions of dollars to fishermen on the East Coast of Canada.
The international agency also imposes measures on member nations to protect non-targeted species like sharks.
Appointment praised
CBC News was unable to reach Nicholas on Monday.
Nicholas serves as direc‐ tor of First Fishermen Seafoods, an Indigenousowned company based at Membertou. It has a fleet of 11 vessels harvesting groundfish, shellfish and open-ocean species including tuna.
Troy Atkinson, a former Canadian ICCAT commis‐ sioner who represents tuna and swordfish fleets in Nova Scotia, praised Nicholas's ap‐ pointment.
"He has knowledge of the fishery and was attached to commercial entities that both held a swordfish licence at one point in time and the bluefin [tuna] licence," Atkin‐ son said.
'A vast change'
Shannon Arnold of the Hali‐ fax-based Ecology Action Centre called both appoint‐ ments "a vast change."
"To me, it shows an open‐ ness to broaden the range of views in the management of fisheries. This is unheard of to have the First Nations community and the conser‐ vation community represen‐ ted."
It is part of a shift in the Canadian delegation at IC‐ CAT. Formerly, she said, com‐ missioners were mandated to represent industry. Now they represent all stakehold‐ ers.
Atkinson is less support‐ ive of an appointment from the ranks of Oceans North, a non-governmental organiza‐ tion (NGO) that has clashed with industry management of ICCAT fisheries.
"I don't see somebody from Oceans North as an in‐ dustry commissioner. So I do have some difficulties with
Katie," he said.
"We've had different views on where we should be going with both bluefin and sword‐ fish and other things in the past, and I can't see how she's not going to do what she does for her group and is going to drop that in favour of commercial interests," he said.
'Wider sustainability considerations'
Both Schleit and Nicholas ap‐ plied for the commissioner positions.
"I'm really pleased that my years of experience with fish‐ eries management and policy, particularly with ICCAT, allowed me to be selected for this," Schleit said.
She told CBC News she pledges to work with indus‐ try, but also advance "wider sustainability tions."
She also praised the newest commissioner.
"I'm really looking forward to working with Hubert in this role as well. He brings a lot of experience from the fishery, from a practical per‐ spective, managing fisheries as well as from the policy side, and I think we'll work together well in this role." considera‐
Union objects to envi‐ ronmentalists
Tension recently flared in Newfoundland and Labrador over the increased participa‐ tion of conservation organi‐ zations in the management of the capelin fishery.
Both the union repre‐ senting harvesters and in‐ dustry walked out of a meet‐ ing last month in Gander where environmental groups, including Oceans North, had been elevated from observer status to participants, giving them a bigger say in pro‐ ceedings.
The Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) issued a statement calling them "uninformed, environ‐ mental extremists."
Oceans North called the union and industry behavi‐ our at the meeting unaccept‐ able.
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