Commercial Fishing

The Basic Issue

Freshwater and Coastal fisheries have different types of problems in today's changing natural world.

Freshwater fishing activities, particularly in northern Manitoba, are complicated by unsettled Native Land Claims. The development of required infrastructure is hampered by uncertainty of long-term ownership rights. One government negotiator mentioned recently that the actual amounts of land have been pretty well arrived at, but the problem is finding unencumbered land. Rights to surface activities such as forestry have been allocated in such a haphazard manner that there is very little land left without some such encumbrance which can be used to settle the claims.

Issues of employment in remote areas, and the interplay of forestry and tourism are other issues affecting freshwater fishing.

Coastal fisheries are beset with a variety of problems owing to the depletion of fish-stocks. The development of huge factory ships on an international basis, over-harvesting of fish, and the complex effects of multi-dimensional pollution of the oceans and atmosphere have resulted in both fish depletion and failure of fish stocks to bounce back. The destruction of the fishing trade on the coast has proved to be devastating for the rural communities along the coast-lines.

Rural Development Institute Research Studies

• "A Stake in the North: Papers on Mining Forestry and Remote Tourism" - Ray Bollman and Richard Rounds (eds)
  This report includes three papers concerning employment in rural areas. One of the three reports has implications for northern sport fishing in so far as it relates to the forestry industry's impact on the tourist industry in the north.
  • Access roads are used by forestry companies as well as fishermen, and their existence raises encroachment issues.
  • Fly-in fishermen become very aware of clear-cut practices and "islands of bush"
  • Northern remoteness places a restraint on employment practices.

• "Agents of Change, Restructuring and Environmental Constraints of the Fishing Trade in the Acadian Peninsula" - Omer Chouinard
  This paper, coming out of New Brunswick focuses primarily on the in-shore and mid-shore fishing situation rather than the deep-sea fishing (which accounts for only 10% of their industry. The author notes that it is the Fishermen's Associations which are the main voices in the negotiations now, and outlines the associations responsible for each type of fishing. The paper is an excellent summary of the five historical phases of the federal government's involvement in the Atlantic fishing industry. He notes that New Brunswick was much more diversified than the other Maritime Provinces when the deep-sea moratorium hit, so they fared somewhat better than the others. His paper is a sociological contribution to the debate.