Petition project seeks to send message to Federal government on coastal fishery concerns

A current online petition campaign is calling for the Federal
Government to change the way it approaches Fisheries Management in BC

The local office of the fish workers union UFAWU-Unifor is highlighting a current petition campaign to send a message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's Premiers of the need to develop a better fisheries management system for coastal communities.

It's a national campaign, a features a BC focus but For those living on the North Coast the key refrain from the petition request will be a familiar one. With petition organizers noting the growing domination of the corporate fishery and the impact it has had on local communities and fishing industry workers.

In BC the exorbitant cost of licenses and quota is leaving no room for independent fishermen, and small scale community and family fishing businesses to exist. Corporate investors are driving prices up and any fisherman in BC will tell you that it is extremely hard to enter and remain in Pacific fisheries due to extreme financial barriers. Our fisheries policies have allowed these practices to go unchecked, and have led to loss of jobs, seriously damaging communities and cultures along the coast.

The petition sponsored by saveourBCfisheries calls on the Prime Minister and Fisheries Minister Dominic Leblanc to commit to fisheries policy reform for Pacific fisheries that can address the many issues facing coastal communities. Asking that the Federal Government return the many benefits of the resource back to harvesters, communities and the Canadian public.

As the group sees the current system, it is failing local communities in some of the following ways:

We are losing access to our public fisheries resource! 
Our fisheries are being managed for the benefit of private investors, and increasingly multinational corporations 
Fish mongers, chefs, and restaurateurs can't get local fish to sell 
Canadians can't get local fish to feed their families  
Fishing families have lost their voice 
Fishing communities have lost their jobs 
Fish harvesters and communities are disappearing from our coast

You can learn more about the initiative here.

Organizers are fast approaching their goal of 1500 signatures, to add your name to the petition follow the instructions found from petition home page.

More items related to the North Coast Fishery can be found on our archive page here.