Shrimp catch. (Photo: Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters)

N.S. fishing companies fight to keep Last In First Out shrimp policy

CANADA
Wednesday, June 15, 2016, 22:30 (GMT + 9)

Members of Nova Scotia’s offshore shrimp fishery are launching a last ditch effort to sway federal politicians to keep the long-standing Last In First Out policy after what they’re describing as an unfair consultation process.

Last Friday, industry stakeholders met in Halifax to make their case to a federally-appointed panel tasked with reviewing the Last In First Out (LIFO) policy, but some feel their concerns fell on deaf ears.

Scott Nichols, CEO of North Sydney shrimp harvester M. V. Osprey Ltd. — one of four Nova Scotia companies that fish eight of the 17 offshore licences — said he felt Friday’s consultation was pointless.

“This panel was supposed to be fair an independent and my opinion the panel really showed their non independence and complete bias towards the issue,” he told the Chronicle Herald.

LIFO has been in place since the late 1970s to protect the pioneering companies mainly from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that invested millions to build the northern shrimp fishery. It simply means the companies that were first to join the industry are the last to have their quotas cut in the event of a decline and the last to join are the first to be cut.

After the collapse of the cod fishery a number of Newfoundland and Labrador inshore vessels were given a resource sharing agreement allowing them access to the then catch-rich Area 6, located off of the northern part of the island.

In recent years stock declines in that area have caused major quota cuts, which due to LIFO has affected mainly the inshore fishery, leading stakeholders in Newfoundland and Labrador to call for an end to the policy.

Nichols said when representatives from Nova Scotia were presenting to the panel in support of LIFO, panel members were unnecessarily argumentative and gave presenters the impression that the decision to axe the policy had already been made.

Nichols also expressed concern that while there were five consultations in Newfoundland and Labrador there was only one in Nova Scotia. He added that several Newfoundland and Labrador groups, including the FFAW union, presented against LIFO at the Halifax consultation as well as the consultations in Newfoundland, but no Nova Scotia groups went to other consultations.

The Chronicle Herald spoke with other industry representatives who did not want to be quoted but had similar concerns.

Tory Northside-Westmount MLA Eddie Orrell presented at Friday’s consultation along with other members of the Nova Scotia government. He said he felt like their concerns weren’t heard.

“The panel that they had there has already made their mind up,” he said.

Provincial fisheries minister Keith Colwell, who has repeatedly expressed his support for LIFO, was a little more subdued.

“We were concerned and still are that there there was no one on the panel from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick,” he said.

“We’ll have to wait to see what the panel comes out with. . . .Hopefully they’ve listened and will make the proper recommendations to the minister.”

Paul Sprout, a British Columbia Fisheries Management Consultant and the chair of the LIFO ministerial advisory panel denied any bias among the panel’s members. He said any assertion that the panel has already come to a conclusion is incorrect, adding that it’s their job to ask tough questions to get the information they need.

“Our terms are completely clear. We’re in listening mode and we’re trying to get advice from people on what their views are on continuing, modifying or abolishing (LIFO),” he said.

Sprout said the panel modified the format of Friday’s consultation in order to ensure everyone from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick who registered got a chance to speak before the groups that had already presented at other meetings, and said any of the pro-LIFO Nova Scotia presenters were free to attend and speak at any of the other consultations as well.

“It’s my view that my panel is in a really good position to assess that advice and provide impartial advice to the minister. There's a lot of debate among us and. . .it will be challenging for us to come to a consensus on this.”

Sprout said the panel will need to take a few more days to comb through the information gathered from 100 presenters and written submission and draft a report.

Fisheries minister Dominic LeBlanc will then have to make a decision based on the recommendations provided by the panel.

A spokesperson from LeBlanc’s office assured in an emailed statement that no decision has been made yet on the future of LIFO.

Source: Andrea Gunn /Herald News  

Related articles:

- Companies fight to manage 48,196 tonnes of northern shrimp quota
- Provincial committee deems LIFO as unfair
- Shrimp sector launch rival campaigns amid fishery policy review

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