Fisheries and Environment Minister Kevin MacAdam is concerned the federal government may be preparing to re-introduce very unpopular lobster conservation measures, and he wants the Federal Minister to sit down with Island Fishers before any action is taken.
Minister MacAdam says "I was assured by Minister Anderson at our last Eastern Canada Fisheries Ministers meeting that any matters relating to carapace size would be fully discussed with Island Fishers and the Provincial Government. Island fishers are concerned the Department of Fisheries and Oceans review is a back door approach to increasing the carapace size."
In mid-December the Federal Minister called for a review of lobster conservation approaches with a view to producing more eggs in 1998, on the assumption that doing so may lessen the chance of resource declines in future. Previous discussions on lobster conservation have really only focused on increasing the legal size of lobster and that is opposed by many fishers. A previous program to scale up the legal size was aborted in 1991, leaving Island fishers with three different minimum sizes.
Minister MacAdam says he has written the Federal Minister inviting him to visit the Island and sit down with fishers to discuss this issue. "What fishers are looking for is a clear indication of where the federal government is headed on this matter. The Federal announcement called for added conservation measures to be studied and developed in advance of the 1998 season, which for many Island fishers is scheduled to open April 30, 1998. In the absence of any signal to the contrary, fishers are worried this is another attempt to impose unsupported measures."
In his recent announcement, the Federal Minister advocated a conservation approach originally outlined by the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council in 1995; an approach which recognizes a number of other ways to produce more eggs in addition to increasing the minimum legal size. "If the Federal Department was serious about discussing these options with fishers for the 1998 season, surely there would have been some process in place by now," stated Minister MacAdam.
The Provincial Minister also questioned how appropriate the "do-it-or-else" approach taken by his Federal counterpart is when dealing with such a complex and controversial issue. "These are very serious matters and the decisions made will have consequences for the livelihoods of hundreds of Island fishers and their families. DFO might get workable solutions from supporting a bottom-up process involving a wide base of Island fishers but they may lose that opportunity if their approach is seen by the industry as heavy-handed."