Sharing knowledge and seeking solutions in the fishery

CHANGE ISLANDS/FRANCE -

Two core fishermen from Change Islands will be heading to Biarritz, France Nov. 25-27 to take part in the International Professional Inshore and Small Scale Fishers Meeting.
Stephen Brinson and Alvin Richards, along with other fishers from eastern Canada, as well as French, Spain, Portugal and other countries will be in attendance.
According to Maureen Woodrow, Ph.D., a seasonal Change Islands resident and adjunct professor at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, the meeting will discuss the importance of the inshore fishery and its fishers. The fishers will share their knowledge and know how as well as the contribution inshore fishing makes to the sustainability of coastal communities.
Ms. Woodrow's area of research is sustainability of rural coastal communities. She believes that the inshore fishery is a vital part of sustaining these communities in coastal Newfoundland and Labrador. She adds her thought that the fishery is currently over regulated to the point where it is difficult for fishers to make a living.
In partnership with Simon Fraser University Centre of Coastal Studies and Stages and Stores on Change Islands, two international workshops were held on Change Islands in 2003-2006. Carleton University also chose Change Islands as one of its study sites for a national study on climate change.

Sharing knowledge
A French research institute, Ifremer (www.ifremer.fr/anglais), is co-organizing the November meeting along with the national committee of maritime fishery and ocean aquaculture and the national committee of professional fresh water fisheries.
The meetings will focus on themes that include environmental aspects of the fishery with examples of environmental awareness from diverse groups; highlighting the knowledge and know how of fishers and their best practices; and socioeconomic perspectives and how men and women from fishing communities built up an irreplaceable socioeconomic heritage based on the accumulated knowledge of how they draw goods and services from their environment over the long term.
Ms. Woodrow and Mr. Brinson will be partnering for a presentation during the meetings in France in relation to the second theme of knowledge and know how of fishers and their best practices. They will focus on the adaptation of Canadian traditional knowledge in the context of global change.
Mr. Brinson has 36 years worth of fishing knowledge he can share with the meeting participants. He has seen things go from pre-moratorium days where there was upwards of 100 core fishers on Change Islands to the current situation where there are only 21 fishers remaining.
"A few years ago the fishery was the mainstay in most communities and most people survived in the fishery through hard times and good times," said Mr. Brinson. "Since the closure of the cod fishery a lot of things have changed.
"There are communities that just can't survive now on the fishery."
Change Islands fishers are hanging on to the tradition of making a living from the sea, but how long that can continue is a question that continues to plague them.
"We're (inshore fishermen with vessels under 35 feet) at the short end of the scale in terms of who is going to go first if the fishery gets worse," he said.
Mr. Brinson said the quotas for snow crab and a bit of cod are enough to keep the few fishers that remain going, but there isn't much breathing room there.
"If the prices went down and you had problems like engine trouble and you couldn't get loans, you're pretty well finished in the fishery," he said. "It's not like we've got a lot of money tucked away to lean back on.
"It's a year-to-year thing. Myself, I can cope with that because I've been in the fishery 36 years and we've had some rough times. Even when the cod fishery was good, you still had times when you didn't do well, but you survived. The way things are now; everything is so expensive to operate. It's a different industry from when I started out."
Mr. Brinson said the fishers today weathered the storm this season, but he doesn't know whether they can sustain another hit next year.
He notes as well that the fishery is an almost impossible industry for a newcomer to make any inroads. Mr. Brinson fears that the fishers of today will mark the end of the generations of fishers from Change Islands and in fact the province as a whole. He noted that last season there was a young fisherman on Change Islands who was "forced out" of the fishery due to regulations that kept from buddying up with someone else to catch his quota of crab. The young man couldn't afford to buy his own boat.
"We are the last of the fishermen here," said Mr. Brinson. "There's no young fishermen.
"I'm 51 and there are a few fishermen here in their forties, but there's none younger than that. Years ago the fishery had young men getting involved every year. They were making a living and enjoying what they were doing. We are the last ones. When we go that's it, unless something drastically changes."
Mr. Brinson said this is one of the reasons why he agreed to attend the meetings in France. He wants to see if there are communities from other countries who have faced circumstances similar to those facing the fishery of Change Islands. His hope is there is something he can bring back to his home to help make a difference in the lives of the fishers and the community in general.
This is an important motivator for Mr. Brinson who is also the new Mayor of Change Islands. His community has experienced a tough year from the prices being paid to fishers for their catches and fish plant workers not getting enough hours of work to qualify for Employment Insurance.
Mr. Brinson can recall when 40-50 people were working in the plant. Now there are only 20 workers there, but when you consider the total population of Change Islands is 250 people, those people not qualifying for EI is significant. Make-work projects have been put in place for these plant workers to get the hours they need.
While Mr. Brinson recognizes the fact that seeing 40-50 people back working at the plant is probably not feasible, his hope is that the situation can turn around for next season where people won't have to stress about whether or not they will have enough hours for EI.
If all goes well Mr. Brinson, Mr. Richards and Ms. Woodrow may just return from France with some thoughts on improving the outlook for the future of the fishery for Change Islands.