Commentary re: New forms of marine life found off east coast
This auspicious event in the world of fishery science cannot go unnoticed even at a time of unparalleled, massive slashes in the Federal Fisheries Science budget without some commentary from the thousands of seasonally employed fishermen in N&L and its 80,000 displaced fishery participants now employed in Alberta, BC or Ontario.These men and women would never deny the need for more knowledge on
sponges and corals especially when male and female scientists from three Canadian Universities, from DFO's diminishing science personnel and of course the scientists from that bastion of fishery non-conservation and world champion of overfishing, Spain. However, they do question the science priorities of DFO when the bureaucrats chose to allocate major funding to take the Bedford Institute's "Hudson", fill it with fishery scientists from universities when they can't afford to assess the state of the all important cod, turbot, flounder species, redfish, capelin, crab, shrimp and other species that are the life-blood of thousands of displaced fishery participants in N&L. Of course that kind of decision-making is not unexpected. In the not-too-distant-past when DFO canceled the Northern Cod Experimental project we discovered the "Hudson" under Bedford Institute direction was studying Pacific Sea Lions off Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Another earth-shaking event in DFO fisheries management!              

So this is the start of the flow of joint participatory fishery projects between Spain and Canada envisioned when Messrs Hearn/Harper/Sullivan gave birth to the NAFO Amendents, one of which provided for the
invitation from Canada to Spain to join hands to save our fisheries. This great project was of such importance to start rebuilding our fisheries, after eighteen years, that PM Harper took the risk of
ignoring the elected House of Commons vote to reject those same NAFO amendments and without hesitation ratified them. So much for democracy.

On another note but to give us all a glimpse into the strange world of DFO fisheries management delirium, the Canadian Ambassador of Fisheries Conservation, Mr. Loyola Sullivan concluded a major statement at a UN Law of the Sea Committee meeting,  "On the world stage, Canada is demonstrating leadership on ocean conservation, protection and sustainability, domestically and internationally. We are influencing international priorities, decisions and processes."Loyola Sullivan would have a job convincing fishery participants and the 80,000 displaced persons from fishing communities in N&L that he has a clue about the state of our fisheries and the undeniable fact that 18 years of a moratorium have not produced a recovery nor even a plan for rebuilding the groundfisheries. For some strange reason they seem to think the Spanish re-entry into fisheries inside 200 miles will solve our problems.

Gus Etchegary

TAGS: new species, commentary, Gus Etchegary, fisheries science, science budget cutbacks, misplaced science priorities, the Hudson, NAFO Amendments, Spain, overfishing, Loyola Sullivan, moratorium, northern cod