Fishermen fighting for ‘right to survive’
“We had a job to stay at it last year, but it’s a whole new ball game this year. It won’t be (worth going out on the water this year) and if you are only getting $2 a pound, you can’t afford to pay your crew members very much.
“All the plants got together and give you a price, no competition. That’s why we want to open it up.
“We want to be able to ship out (our product) and they said the plant is going to hold back 20 per cent. The fishermen will never go along with that. If they give us $2.50 per pound this year and 20 per cent is $.50, so we are only going to get $2 per pound. So they’ll pay (what they held back) in December month if everything goes right with them.
“To me, we went back 50 years last year. My father worked on schooners going to Labrador. They’d come up with a schooner load of fish, come up and dry it, and come into St. John’s and they’d hold back money at the end of the year, and had to go back to the same company again next year. It’s gone back to that, and it’s ridiculous as far as I’m concerned.”
‘IT CAN BE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE’
Bruce Short has been fishing since he was nine. Last month, he had a heart attack, but he’s chosen to protest alongside other members of the FFAW. The fishery is his life, he said.
“I shouldn’t be in here having to fight for my very right to survive in an industry I’ve grown up in,” Short said.
“Everyone here has got stories and they should all tell their stories about what kind of life they have had on the water. It can be a beautiful life, but we’re in a place where a lot of people would rather cry than go out on the water because of the way they are being treated.”
Short said he plans to stick around until the government grants free enterprise to the fishery.
“We’re not going home, so get used to us. We’re going to stay until this premier and this minister of fisheries do what is necessary to get us back on the water with a free market to sell our products,” he said.
‘BUDDY CAME AT ME’
Doug Trainor is a fish harvester from Fermuse, but he fishes out of Petty Harbour. He sees the government as more of a problem than the fish processors.
On Wednesday morning, an RNC horse stepped on his foot, he said.
“Buddy came at me like a savage, the cop on the horse, telling everybody to get out of the way,” Trainor said.
“My foot is sore. I hope to God when I get home this evening my foot is swollen so then I can do something about it,” he said.
Trainor said his altercation with the horse won’t stop him from returning to the protest on Thursday.
“We’ll be here again tomorrow morning at 6 o’clock if we have to be. We will stay all night. We’re going to do whatever we have to. I don’t care. I’m not stopping now,” he said.
“They knocked me down in the mud today. Tomorrow I’ll be back in the mud if I have to be.”
A FUNNY FEELING
Fish harvester John Efford has helped organize a lot of the FFAW protests. He said Wednesday’s turnout was the highest they’ve seen.
“We got numbers, and I’ve been saying all along, numbers is what means something. Not only does it mean business, it means something to us,” said Efford.
Late Wednesday morning, the province announced Budget 2024’s delay.
Efford told the protesters he expects to see more delays.
“Something happened today that never happened before in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador. The budget was cancelled,” he said.
“I have a funny feeling that it may be cancelled tomorrow, the next business day, and the next business day until we get what? Free enterprise. Pretty clear message, isn’t it?”