The voice of B.C.'s organized fishing industry workers
Nicaraguan workers lack knives and nets, but not self-respect
• With its rich farmland, bountiful forests and almost-untapped fisheries resource, Nicaragua could be a veritable Garden of Eden. But decades of Somoza dictatorship — ended by the 1979 revolution — reduced Nicaragua to illiteracy, disease and starvation. In February, UFAWU members Scotty Neish, Walter Tickson and Kathy Schultz travelled to Nicaragua at their own expense as part of a trade union delegation sponsored by the Canadian University Service Overseas. As guests of the new government in Nicaragua and CTS. the trade union centre, they visited shore plans and fishing communities. This is their report:
THE potential of the fishing industry of Nicaragua is tremendous, writes Scotty Neish, for its export potential and especially for the people of Nicaragua in increased access to a very valuable food resource at reasonable prices.
The main fisheries now being exploited are the high profit lobster (or crayfish) and shrimp fisheries, which are in demand in the United States market and do not compete with products being processed by the U.S. multinationals which dominated the Nicaraguan fisheries under Somoza.
I agreed with the officials of the state fishing enterprise Inpesca that further exploitation of the present lobster and shrimp fisheries should not be a high priority item, because the under-exploited fin fishery can be increased with the least expenditure of capital.
The continental shelf on both coasts is very gradual and provides tremendous areas of fairly shallow water. The land on the Atlantic coast's entire length is low-lying and heavily forested, with major slow-moving rivers extending well over 100 miles into the interior and emptying through large areas ofsalt water marshes and lagoons. It is recognized by fishery biologists that these types of estuaries are the most prolific feeding and growth areas of the earth's surface.
The Pacific coast is the opposite as far as sheltered fishing areas are concerned. There are only two harbors of any consequence.
What Nicaraguan fishermen need most besides direct financial aid is gear — nets, lines, hooks, floats — you name it and they don't have it.
Their fishermen are skilled net men. They have to be, as they are continually repairing their nets. They don't even have knives. They make substitutes from old hacksaw blades and pieces of car springs. These knives hold a good edge once you get them ground down, but they don't even have files or grind wheels to do that. I asked for a file to sharpen the hooks on the new longline gear I was building and they suggested rubbing each hook on the cement floor.
I visited a small fishing community called Masachapa on the Pacific coast to work with some fishermen who were working in a fish-catching or producers' co-operative under the guidance of Inpesca. The main fishery of the co-op was gillnetting for hammerhead sharks with about a oVAnch mesh, fairly coarse thread gillnets similar to what we used in our dogfish gillnetting operation here in B.C. Hammerhead sharks range all the way from the size of our dogfish to over 300 pounds. They got what they consider a good price of 40c a pound dressed, head off, for shark meat. They only had three shackles of gillnet, about 50 fathoms each. They operated out of a 26-foot double-ended steel lifeboat, decked-in forward with a hatch overthe45 h.p. Perkins engine.
The area they fished was about seven miles offshore in about 10 fathoms of water. There was no shelter at all. They anchored the lifeboat offshore and the catch, gear, fuel oil, etc. had to be transferred between the boat in 20-foot dugout canoes powered by outboard motors. They landed on the sandy beach right through the surf, and as soon as the canoe
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touched bottom all hands jumped overboard into the surf and the canoe was manhandled through the surf and up the beach on two short log rollers.
In travelling to and from the grounds we passed many large schools of fish boiling on the surface with all kinds of birds feeding on them and lots of signs of large fish threshing around the perimeter of the school. It seemed an ideal situation for a small hand-pulled purse seine to be set around the school, with mesh to allow the small fish to escape but hold the large fish that were obviously feeding on the school. The water in the area was only about 10 fathoms deep so a shallow seine of any type would have been effective.
This is where I think our B.C. fishermen can play a very important role in helping our counterparts. We have set up a committee here in B.C. of people who are willing to act as volunteers to gather any kind of gear people wish to donate and the committee will arrange to have it transported to Nicaragua.
There is no doubt in my mind that the fishermen working only with their hands can get lots of use out of seine web, gillnets, floats and lines that will not stand up on the power drums now in use here as well as floats, etc. that have become obsolete to our sophisticated fishery, and would welcome them.
THE economic problems of the Nicaraguan fishing industries — plants without machinery, boats without gear — have been complicated recently by the actions of the United States, continues Walter Tickson. The Reagan administration cancelled all aid to the new Nicaragua and has embargoed all trade on the lame excuse that Nicaragua allegedly is aiding the revolution in El Salvador. To beat the embargo, Nicaragua must either convert to the machinery of the Socialist world or find parts compatible with its U.S.-built plants through third countries such as Canada.
Naturally, there is no thought of giving in to US. demands to win an end to the
embargo. The people wouldn't stand for that.
The government of Nicaragua is a product of the revolution and the people who fought and won the revolution appoint the government. The 47-member state Legislative Council (parliament) is appointed by people's organizations. The FSLN or Sandinista National Liberation Front — the people who fought and won the revolution — appoint 24 members, most of whom are trade unionists and peasants. The women's, peasants', businessmen's, doctors' and teachers' associations, the church, Indian tribes, political parties, trade union congresses and universities appoint the other 23 members.
The key to the strength and popularity of the government is the fact that it unites the Social Democrat Party, the Communist party and the Church around a single program. Several cabinet ministers are trade unionists, three of the 16 are priests.
The program adopted by the government provides for a mixed economy, with the natural resources and key industries belonging to the socialist sector, the distribution and processing to private.
Before the revolution minimum wage rate in agriculture was $1.30 a day. In 1980 it was raised to $2.70 a day. Although some foods were cheap and often self-produced, the prices of manufactured goods, mostly imported, were influenced by foreign markets and are beyond the reach of many. Many are without shoes, proper housing, medicines and tools of production. Two-thirds of the Nicaraguan people were illiterate. In 1980 the whole nation was mobilized in what they call "ALPHABETIZATION". Illiteracy was reduced by 50 per cent in six months. They are confident that illiteracy will be eradicated in 18 months. But to learn the elementaries of reading and writing is not enough; they need teachers, doctors, experts in hygienics, pest control, agronomists — but above all they need production machinery, boats for the fishing industry, farm implements, processing equipment and public and industrial transportation vehicles.
• Shrimp trawl fishermen (above) at San Juan del Sur use muscle-power to kick out the gear. At left, Neish tries his hand at network, a mandatory skill when new nets are not available and (below) cleanliness is a priority at shrimp plant on the Atlantic coast.
LACK of equipment, the Somoza heritage of poverty, the U.S. trade embargo — these are one side of the Nicaraguan fishing industry, concludes Kathy Schultz. The other side is the excitement and pride of a people who have a say in their work, have equal pay for women, have working conditions second to none and above all, a future.
Some plants are publicly-owned, some privately-owned, and all are unionized. For women this means the same pay as men, paid pregnancy leave for one month before giving birth and for three months after. For all workers it means a worker-owned store in big plants where prices are held down. It means infirmaries are set up and day care provided where necessary.
The working day is eight hours, with 90 minutes for lunch and two 15 to 20-minute breaks. All uniforms and gear are provided by the company.
What impressed me most was the atmosphere in the plants. People on the lines worked at their own pace with much discussion and laughter. Although the floors were cement, proper platforms were provided for maximum comfort. The floors were spotless and one crew had to walk through an antiseptic foot bath before entering the work area. All the plants showed the tremendous pride of the workers.
It struck me that in Nicaragua a worker is respected. In a sense, this was more foreign to me than the language. Although the needs of the people are great, the basic needs are being looked after. A factory is not just a place to put in time, it is a community and a class room.
For most of the people, trade unionism is a new phenomenon. Under Somoza it was illegal and anyone in the trade union movement suffered cruel repression. In some cases, workers in remote areas were kept ignorant of the struggle to overthrow Somoza. To incorporate these people into the new government of Nicaragua is not an easy task. The illiteracy campaign is helping to overcome these problems.
Slowly, these people are coming to realize they play a leading role in the reconstruction of their country. The possibility for a major fishing industry is there if we help.
Fishermen who have old gear for donation to Inpesca can contact Schultz, Tick-son or Neish through the UFAWU at 684-3254. Schultz has prepared an excellent slide show on the trip and would be happy to show it to any group interested in the reconstruction of Nicaragua.
THE FISHERMAN — MAY 29, 1981/5
