Fishermen urged to join association

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Lobster fishermen continue to push for a price of $5.50 for the sale of their lobsters.

And the push continues for captains, crewmembers and others to join a new lobster fishing association that has been started in lobster fishing areas 33 and 34.

The latest meeting of the 1688 Professional Lobster Fishermens Association – the fourth meeting in two weeks – was held Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the West Pubnico Legion Hall in Yarmouth County. And like the other meetings before it, it drew a large crowd in the hundreds.

(NOTE: A video from the meeting accompanies this story. The video contains some colourful language and a few swear words that some viewers may find offensive.)

Former fisherman and former lobster dealer James Mood, the man who started and is leading the association movement, told fishermen to keep holding back their lobsters. Drying up the inventory, he said, will help them achieve a price of $5.50 a pound, as opposed to the $3.50 a pound price that they were paid at the start of the season. It was stated at the meeting that last Friday some dealers were offering $4.50 for catches.

Some fishermen who approached the microphone, however, still felt that the industry should put a complete halt to fishing until the price reaches $5.50. But Mood said a vote on this would require the participation of all of those who have joined the association and not all members of the association were present at the West Pubnico meeting, so no vote was taken.

“Stay the course,” he told the fishermen.

For those who had been at the other association meetings, there was some repetition. But Mood and others said it bears repeating: there is strength in numbers.

So far the number of people who have joined the association numbers in the hundreds – prior to the meeting it was said to be around 400 – when potentially it could number in the thousands. The latter is the goal, although Mood admits it will be a slow process to get there and there are people who are still on the fence about joining.

But Mood said fishermen need to take back control of their industry and to do this they need a united front.

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“If you’re willing to join up and take this industry back, you will have accomplished great things,” he said, adding if all captains and crewmembers in lobster fishing areas 33 and 34 join the association it could have a membership of around 6,000.

The next meeting of the association is planned for Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the fire hall in Sandy Cove, Digby County at 1:30 p.m.

During the Jan. 18 meeting Mood took a swipe at Nova Scotia Fisheries Minister Sterling Belliveau who recently told the media that while he supports the concept of an association, fishermen should not be tying up their boats. Belliveau also said the association should be consulting with other groups and stakeholders within the industry.

Mood said Belliveau should come to a meeting.

“Seems to me Sterling should be in the front row, you voted him in. Where the hell is he?” said Mood.

Aside from getting a higher price for lobsters, another goal of the association is to have a cannery in southwestern Nova Scotia that fishermen can directly sell lobsters too. He said such a cannery would be owned by the fishermen and the communities, not by a corporation.

But a cannery doesn’t come cheap. Mood said the association will have to raise $1 million and the provincial and federal governments would each be asked to contribute $2 million. He said the association has already started looking at potential sites for a cannery.

At the start of the meeting Mood said there has been talk among some people who have questioned his credibility. So he invited, repeatedly, anyone who has a concern about him leading the association to come forward to the microphone to say why he isn’t credible.

No one did.

But others did come up to the microphone to voice their support for the association and to urge others to join.

“We are in crisis mood and I have no reason why to explain, but something has just gone off inside of me about this area, and that it matters, and we do make a difference,” said Troy Nickerson. “We have kids and families who don’t want to leave this area, they want to make this their home, they want this to remain their home. And truth be told there are people who have left here that want to come back.”

The next meeting of the association is planned for Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the fire hall in Sandy Cove in Digby County at 1:30 p.m. -

To those who haven’t joined the association yet, Nickerson told these fishermen to go home and discuss their situation with their wife and to look at their kids.

“As James has pointed out we need strength in numbers, every no that we get makes it one less day closer to realizing our goal,” he said. “So if you can go home and look at your wife and you can look at your children and just shrug it off like it doesn’t mean anything, all the power to you. I’m glad I don’t have to be accountable for you.”

Jennifer Peterson, who has worked as a welder, said people need to base their decision on why to join on the facts.

“And the facts of the matter is the lobster industry around here is going down and everybody is going down with it,” she said. “And if everybody doesn’t do anything about it my job is not going to be there, and neither is yours.”

Wedgeport fishermen Kristen LeBlanc – who before the start of the season had organized a rally with fellow fisherman Lucien LeBlanc, where fishermen were told to consider striking at the start of the season rather than going fishing for a low price – still feels the same way now as he did in November.

 “This is what we have to do, we have to not go whatsoever. That’s how I feel, that’s how I felt before dumping day, and that’s how I’m going to feel before the next dumping day and that’s how I’m going to continue to feel,” he said. “We shouldn’t go, at all! We should tie the boats up…we should say we’re not going to fish for $3.25 again.”

Will Scott, who has served as a port rep on an elected board for lobster fishing area 34, said that organization isn’t working and fishermen need to do something different. He sees the association as the answer.

“Are we going to keep going for $3.25? I figure we’ve got three strikes. Three or four years ago we have one strike. We’ve got another strike now with $3.25, and if we don’t do something with Mr. Mood now we’re going to be struck out and we ain’t going to be fishing,”