Newfoundland cod fishery: Lessons not learned?

well Peter this isn't exactly the picture that comes to mind for most people when they think of Newfoundland but 25 years ago these doors and what was going on on either side represented the end of almost 500 years of Newfoundland history fishing the northern cause [Music] it was quite a scene playing out on national television outside barred from the room angry Newfoundland fishermen trying to get in this is an amount that the that we think should look after any emergency while inside federal fisheries minister John Crosby was presiding over the largest mass layoffs in Canadian history there Perry did you expect this kind of reaction when Travis announcement they don't need to go bursar trying to batter on doors to frighten me but this day July 2nd 1992 was more like the end of the story [Music] the beginning of the story is out here on the North Atlantic the breeding grounds of the northern cog a species once so plentiful it was said you could almost walk on their backs across the water [Music] no sign of cod this morning or much of anything else besides ice as far as the eye can see out there somewhere argh or James crab and lobster pucks there's times you got to take a chance right well you thought you were clear of it enough to put the pots in the water yeah we did and seemed like windows came in and it came in so fast that we never had time to get the gear off anyway my pots are over there above the couple miles window east backs off now we wouldn't take inventory and see if there's anything left whatever is left we'll try to figure out how to make a living would call it insult to injury lobster season will be soon over you have some lobsters pounded there yeah that's what we got the console fired a year that's it that's it great price no lobsters just another reminder of 25 years of struggle he used to keep his Cod traps in here where your Cod traps these days well actually I cut up to him burn them yeah burned for scrap when they shut it all down not that he was surprised you know he eventually it had a pan right and I think it took someone like John Crosbie I think to really put it into perspective and say that you know this is a Norfolk gotta be shut down and and I hate to admit it but you know the man was right you know it definitely had to be shut down there was nowhere for them to hide in the 60s 70s and 80s modern technology found its way to the high seas the spawning grounds of the northern cod and a systematic process of elimination began 12 months of the year 24 hours a day they fished a large Canadian fleet but foreigners to the Spanish Portuguese and the Russians from 1962 to 1977 alone the harvestable biomass of the northern cod dropped 82% scientists kept overestimating the stock size and Canadian politicians kept setting higher quotas but ensure the thousands of fishermen who also relied on that fish could see what was happening Glenn Winslow certainly could because we see the catch rates going down you know around land arena and I'll tell you another thing we see we see the fish getting smaller he had just invested a million dollars into a bigger operation to chase the fish offshore he took possession of a new boat wig for catfish and ground fishing and when was that that was a that was 2 weeks before the moratorium and two weeks later calls belong Colinas these days the man who had to deliver the news lives here this is my chair in the house economist 25 years later John Crosbie still calls it the worst moment of his political career as a senior Newfoundland member of the Mulrooney government it fell to him to shut down 500 years of fishing he got an inkling of what he was facing the day before in the fishing community of Bay bulls and when I saw this angry mob there I knew that if I showed any committed here oh that had a Chrysler or that they could scare me or whatever but I had to take I had to take the first step you decided the best defense was a good offense at the beginning I knew that I had to had to do something unusual and he did he attacked huge I didn't take the fish from the goddamn water you could have wound up in the harbor I'm going over door I probably would have been in the harbor but myself that day mergency situation ft 9 no four years is not the first year that I met at a time sir the next day the day he had to lay off almost 40,000 people they've got worse there are too many people trying to make a living from that resource at the present time when the fishermen heard the initial compensation package would amount to about two hundred and twenty-five dollars a week he they decided to confront Crosby who had been barricaded in science when Winslow was in the crowd that's one of his crew members trying to beat down the door one of the two fellows that you see on the news every now and then trying to get into the door actually fished with me that day what they didn't know at the time was that they were actually doing John Crosby a favor they actually have a good home Ryan Mulrooney and his cabinet had been elected preaching fiscal restraint the package was the best prosper could do until the cabinet saw the racket on national television it probably helped to get a better compensation or definite definitely did the cost of a compensation program which originally we had thought might be of several several hundred million turned out to be four billion dollars for our final plan Winslow has added mission to John Crosby was right now when you look back at the twenty five years later what do you think of the decision it all was definitely the right decision it should have been made earlier for a while the oil and gas industry help people find work or the provinces Labrador mega power project but the real cost was paid in the people lost tens of thousands left take someone's ID in the family take someone to the real race there's a lot of people's homes are going to be gone car's gone it's going back to the soup kitchen days deep down in my gut today there's a knock and a tear of me on the look like I said for I once where I once stood long and don't belong there anymore [Music] [Music] it's always really been about the fish Glenn Winslow and his crew survived by going even bigger so this has all the technology to our GPS is to Sounders aboard yeah there's actually three radars aboard yeah two computers what's a boat like this worth this one today I ten should be well over two million when you get into a vessel like this fridge and the death does involve dinner yeah and you have only so much time in the year to make the capital that's required keep this ice alone that's your pressure that's right and that pressure landed right on other species like crab and shrimp both lucrative fisheries that everyone wanted to fish it helped the value of the seafood industry in the province top one point four billion dollars last year a record but there's a problem there's every indication they two are now in trouble folders have been severely cut Gor James went at the crab to his wife Pat worked in the boat with him doubling the household income helped them survive now his quota has been cut almost in half he's heard people arguing the crab stock has declined because of environmental conditions he just doesn't believe it they blame the environmental issue for the disappearance of the cod - you know there's nothing environmental bit over fishing you know you take your taking too much and it's as simple as that species can't take the pressure you can't you know just can't how much cod do you suppose has been landed here over the centuries I can imagine a fair bit was landed here and now the pressure is back on the federal fishery scientists to allow them to once again increase northern cod fishing but 25 years later the spawning biomass is still barely 1/3 the size it needs to be to sustain a commercial fishery where did your grandfather fish he fished off Western Bay Karen Dwyer is the government's lead biologist on northern Cod she's heard the fisheries union calling to increase quotas she's resisting you feel that pressure that pressure is definitely there especially for fisheries managers I think because the stock is still where it is and that lower half of the critical zone I think that it's not the answer right now but it does indicate we need to be more careful yeah that's what we're doing on this stock yeah we can't get this wrong twice no yeah you don't want to get around toys sold for now the most widespread cod fishery will remain recreational any Newfoundlander is allowed to fish for cod to eat during certain times in the summer so this is a work in deck out here Ian this was at Len Winslow is gearing up for the possibility of increased commercial quotas anyway but he says the days of the old way of doing things have begone you know I think everyone's starting to realize now that they're for this Fisher is a survive in the future you know after 25 years of a moratorium till we were to get the technology right we better get to way what happens in Fitzroy because if we don't I'll tell you it will be 25 years wasted still when you ask the question so do you think anything has really changed well I tell you what taken a long time to answer that I hope they have I don't know if they really have Gor James has very little faith that much has changed so history is repeating itself history is repeating itself sir exactly the way I predicted and you can mark that down somewhere that's the way it's going to go or that the northern Cod will really be back anytime soon I'm going to guarantee you I won't live lying off the soot cod fishery back in full tilt if people think you know that we're going to get to work to fish card like we did one time forget it it's not going to happen [Music] his wife has turned to painting for a hobby and to make a few dollars but her fishing days are done not a real good outlook is it Gore Jane says he won't be far behind her if he can find his pots he'll finish out the year but he may then join the ranks of thousands of others who have turned their backs on the fishery for the last time red Sheeran CBC News in Salvage Newfoundland

Channel: CBC News: The National

Views: 128,969

Keywords: Newfoundland, cod fishery, shut down, 25 years ago, lessons, history, repeat, Former federal fisheries minister, John Crosbie, Reg Sherren, National, News, CBCNews, Canadian, public broadcasting, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Fishery Moratorium

Id: 0sFmT8IXGhw

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 28 2017