A rift forming between federal and provincial fishery authorities in Canada has continued to deepen, as the two groups clashed at a recent meeting of the Canadian Council of Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministers (CCFAM).
Newfoundland Minister of Fisheries, Forestry, and Agriculture Gerry Byrne, in a statement issued after the CCFAM meeting, said discussions on provincial priorities collapsed. According to Byrne, a proposal supported by all 13 provincial and territorial fisheries ministers to discuss joint management as part of the agenda was not allowed by Canada Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Diane Lebouthillier.
“The federal minister pronounced out loud that any position taken on fisheries matters of national importance with unanimous agreement of all 13 provincial and territorial premiers of Canada is irrelevant to her department and will not be allowed to be discussed in her presence,” Byrne wrote. “The council is our opportunity as ministers to raise concerns and solutions to issues that impact our fisheries and our fish harvesters.”
According to Byrne, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador had asked, and received support from, all 13 provincial and territorial fisheries ministers to discuss joint management as part of the fisheries agenda at the CCFAM meeting. Byrne said the provinces proposed language to include in the CCFAM conference’s concluding communique.
“Ministers brought forward the statement by Canada’s Premiers at the recent Council of the Federation meeting which ‘expressed significant concerns with some of the current management practices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Greater engagement and collaboration are needed on the management of fisheries resources overseen by the federal government. Premiers support the position of Newfoundland and Labrador that these fisheries be jointly managed and call on the federal government to develop such an approach.’ Ministers requested that discussions be initiated on this statement," Byrne said.
Byrne said that despite unanimous support from all 13 provincial and territorial fisheries ministers, Lebouthillier denied the inclusion of any such language or discussion at the meeting.
“The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard was clear: The deliberations of Canada’s 13 First Ministers were of no concern or relevance to her and would not be allowed at the CCFAM table,” Byrne said. “This is the first time to my knowledge that Ottawa affected a veto not only on CCFAM ministers but on matters coming from the highest level of provincial and territorial engagement within our federation."
Byrne said that the move disrespected provincial and territorial ministers and “was like nothing I have ever witnessed in my 28 years of public life.”
“The Canadian federation was damaged today by Canada,” Byrne said.
The statement comes as the Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) has continued to clash with the DFO and Minister Lebouthillier over the reopening of Newfoundland and Labrador's northern cod fishery in June. The union has maintained that the reopening was counter to a longstanding agreement on cod quotas and claim the reopening of the fishery was counter to sound management and done as political pandering.
“The disconnect between federal and provincial fisheries management has never been so wide,” FFAW Secretary Treasurer Jason Spingle said in a release. “Minister Lebouthillier’s time as federal fisheries minister must come to an immediate close so that our fishing industry and the relationships between federal, provincial, and industry stakeholders can begin to recover.”
Spingle said that the DFO’s actions in 2024 has been “a colossal failure of fisheries management.”
“Today’s media statement from provincial Minister Gerry Byrne cements the fact that it is time for us to all recognize that the current way of doing things is not working,” he said.
