Halibut cut called ripof f for Canada
Proposed reductions in the Vrea 2B halibut harvest this year ire a ripoff of Canadian fisher-nen. says UFAWU business igent John Radosevic.
The International Pacific Hal-but Commission is demanding a â– eduction of catch effort to only !5 percent of the biomass to ivert a threatened stock collapse n some areas.
Last year, the American hardest of 54 million pounds retired an average 38 percent har-est rate, with some areas xploiting the resource as much is 59 percent.
Canadian fishermen, however, larvested at only a 43 percent rate. Their share of the catch reduction, if taken in one year, would see the catch drop to 7.8 million pounds from 10 million last year.
Coastwide. the commission is railing for catches to decline from 54.5 million pounds last year to 59 million in 1990 and as little as 53.5 million in 1991.
"Canadians have not depleted the stock and should not be expected to sacrifice to make up for U.S. management shortcomings." Radosevic said. "We see no reason to curtail our efforts, which amount to a small share of the overall catch, to compensate for losses in U.S. waters to trawlers and a wide-open fishery."
Under IPHC proposals, the reduction could be achieved in one year or phased in. Under the phase-in option, the Canadian harvest would fall to 8.3 million pounds.
The IPHC, which will convene its annual meeting in Seattle Jan. 29. believes halibut stocks in most areas are below the 1986 peak and will continue to decline for several years.
They recommend only five days of fishing in Area 2B. with the first fishery on May 29, running until June 3.
Meanwhile, the Canadian fisheries department is running into heavy weather in its drive to implement a transferable quota system.
The UFAWU will have one representative on the committee reviewing the quotas. The PTA will have two and the Fishing Vessel Owners. Pacific Coast Fishing Vessel Owners, the Prince Rupert Vessel Owners and the Native Brotherhood will have one each.
Controversy over the size and nature of the quotas is so sharp that implementation in 1990 may be impossible. Radosevic said.
The halibut plan is just one of a series of quota fisheries under study in the department. Others are proposed for the prawn and black cod fisheries and already exist in abalone.
• UFAWU business agent John Radosevic views the highly-automated bridge of the farm fish packer Western Thunderbird, a Norwegian-built vessel now packing for B.C. Packers. UFAWU tendermen toured this vessel earlier this month as part of negotiations over crew complements.
Trial committee expels Seselja for fishing during salmon strike
A UFAWU Vancouver Local 1 trial committee voted unanimously Jan. 10 to expel fisherman Tomo Seselja from the union for fishing during the 1989 salmon strike.
Seselja will never fish on a union boat again if the recommendation is upheld by the union's General Executive Board. Seselja has the right of appeal to
Atlantic communities rally to fight as thousands of shorejobs slashed
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
the next five years.
Three days later, the second largest company on the east coast. Fishery Products International (FPI), announced plans to permanently close three plants in southern Newfoundland — Grand Bank. Trespassey and Gaultois. Close to 1.300 shore-workers will lose their jobs when the plants close in 1991.
Canso has launched a massive letter-writing campaign and is planning a province-wide boycott of Sobey's supermarket chain. Sobey's. through several subsidiary companies, is a major shareholder in National Sea.
The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour is planning an even larger protest in Canso on Feb. 17. NSFL president Rich Clarke has called on the labour movement, municipalities, church and community groups to join in a "display of unity."
Tne federation is considering further demonstrations and a major lobby to the provincial government.
In Newfoundland, over 400 shoreworkers from the threatened National Sea plant in St. John's marched on the provincial legislature Jan. 10 to demand that the province step in to keep the plant open.
The Newfoundland government has offered some $3 million in subsidies if it agrees to keep the plant open part-time until
the convention, but he failed to appear for his own trial.
The trial was the first of dozens now being scheduled to deal with individuals charged with scabbing during the strike. Seselja was charged with acting in a manner injurious to the welfare and reputation of the union and with aiding, abetting and advocating secession from the union. He was notified of the trial by registered mail.
Local 1 organizer Bruce Logan, secretary of trial committee, said testimony at the trial included the statements of several eyewitnesses who observed Seselja on the Western Breeze. Others testified that boat skipper Tom Medanic had directed his fishermen to sail.
Seselja normally is employed as a longshoreman, but takes his summer holidays to go fishing.
Other testimony indicated that when Seselja was con-
fronted with the charge, he fingered his son Eric as the guilty party.
The trial committee — made up of Gordon Wright, Nick Carr, Al McLeod, Ed Ironside and John Stevens — concluded that Seselja had been properly advised of the charges and trial date.
The committee further concluded that the Western Breeze had fished during the strike and that Seselja had participated.
Logan said Seselja will be advised of the trial findings and that other crew members from the Western Breeze will be tried as soon as possible.
Logan said the local continues to compile reports of strike activity and trial committees are being formed to hear charges as quickly as possible.
In some cases, where those fishing during the strike were members of other unions, those unions are considering action as well.
Ottawa gives Coast Guard crews back-to-work order
• 3,000 marched through Canso, N.S. to protest the closure of the only fish plant. More than 700 will lose their jobs.
1991, but the company has so far refused.
A similar deal has been accepted by FPI, allowing their Grand Bank, Trespassey and Gaultois plants to keep operating until 1991.
Newfoundland Fishermen's Union (CAW) president Richard Cashin warns that there will be a big fight if plants continue to
close.
"This province will see an upheaval that they haven't seen since 1932," Cashin said, referring to the mass demonstrations that rocked Newfoundland during the depression.
The Newfoundland Fishermen's Union says the system of enterprise allocations allows companies to rationalize their operations by closing some plants and shifting fish quotas to others. The union is demanding that the system of enterprise allocations be scrapped in favour of "port allocations," controlled by the local community.
The NFU is also demanding that DFO cancel National Sea's licence for its two factory freezer trawlers before any shore plants are permitted to shut down. The trawlers harvest and process fish at sea, resulting in fewer jobs for coastal fish plants.
CALM/SohNel
In early December, Conservative House Leader Doug Lewis introduced legislation in Parliament ordering 2,200 striking Coast Guard and federal ships crews back to work.
If he was worried about public safety, then he didn't need back-to-work legislation. The Coast Guard promised to answer any emergency distress calls.
And they kept their word. The day after Lewis' threats, crew members of the Sir William Grenfell were picketing alongside their ship in Newfoundland when a call arrived. There was a terrible storm in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and two cargo ships had capsized.
Twelve strikers left the picket line and headed out into subzero temperatures and twenty-foot waves.
Hours later the Grenfell spotted some people on a life raft, but by the time they pulled along-
side, the survivors of the ship wreck had been washed overboard. In the end, they were unable to save any of the 39 crew members.
Striking Newfoundland crews responded to a dozen such emergency calls during their month on the picket line. They endured picket line threats, and on two occasions strikers were run down by vehicles crossing their lines.
The ship's crews were one of three components of the federal government employees union that rejected a 4.1 percent wage increase last spring. They asked for a better increase, and for wage parity between west coast and east coast ships crews.
Union president Daryl Bean said he was "absolutely, totally opposed" to the back-to-work legislation. He accused the government of refusing to negotiate in good faith because it knew it could end the strike through legislation.
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THE FISHERMAN / JANUARY 19, 1990 • 3