I have been sitting on my perch here in Stephenville for the past week or so listening to CBC Radio coverage of the Change Island Conference on the Future of Coastal Communities. Quite the mouthful considering present circumstances! My only regret all week was that I was not present to savor the dialogue and be somewhat titillated by the academic fervor floating around the hall.
I grew up in Ramea, another island community on the south coast of the province. I have personally experienced the devastation of resource mismanagement and the consequences that it has had on coastal communities throughout NL. The “ragged screen door because nobody lives there anymore” syndrome is far too prevalent here. The momentum of out-migration since 1992 has not only contributed to the dilapidated homestead and dying community but has resulted in “the beginning of the end” to an entire way of life. It saddens me!
Not surprisingly, I have been a long-time advocate of rural sustainability. Unfortunately, the endless “dialogue”, although stimulating excellent discussion at times, has not resulted in positive change. My hometown may not survive my lifetime and, barring a dramatic shift in recent trends, will inevitably go the way of Harbour Deep and hundreds of other former coastal communities in due course.
The focus of the Change Islands conference was on moving from policy to action. Participants engaged in dialogue to determine:• how coastal communities can learn from lessons of others about what are the enablers of positive actions, • how to benefit from new coastal and ocean opportunities and • how to determine how a more responsive, flexible, cohesive system can be developed given that the current system of governance is complex and lacks clarity.
Interestingly, albeit not surprising, much of the discussion was centered around the fishery. How the fishery can be better managed in a sustainable manner in order to meet the needs of present and future generations. A very simple question with a very simple answer! One that I have been openly advocating for over fifteen years.
Currently, fish stocks are a common property resource, owned by no one - not the fishermen and certainly not the fisheries union (FFAW) - but under the constitutional jurisdiction of the Government of Canada. The government regulator, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, grants access to the various fisheries through a regulatory system based on licensing. A licence to fish is not a property right to a share of the fish caught, for example, but rather a kind of permit allowing its processor to join the harvesting effort within regulatory limits which dictate when, where, and with what equipment to fish.
Donald Leal, in an article entitled Community-Run Fisheries: Preventing the Tragedy of the Commons, maintained that regulation of fisheries by the communities that earn their living from them is a step in the right direction. He explicitly challenged the assumption that, in the absence of government regulatory control, fishermen will get caught up in the tragedy of the commons in which stocks are depleted through destructive competitive fishing. He indicated that when the right conditions exist, coastal fishers can cooperate voluntarily to prevent over-fishing. What an interesting concept....
A rights-based fishery, while potentially eliminating many of the inefficiencies to which a common property regime gives rise, will not solve all of the resource management issues that currently exist in this province. A comfortable determination of how much resource actually exist and can be safely harvested needs to be priority regardless of the governance system in place. Related to this, and equally as important, is the implementation of a mechanism or efficient monitoring system that can reasonably record how much fish is actually being harvested. This has been a perpetual problem in the fishing industry for decades and the introduction and implementation of new rules and regulations has become somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophesy.
In my estimation, there is no significant reason for not implementing a comprehensive rights-based fishery in Newfoundland & Labrador. The current fiasco that we have witnessed in the crab and shrimp fishery is sufficient evidence that alternative governance mechanisms, whatever the issue, desperately need to be looked at. Rights holders, preferably community oriented, not industry-oriented and certainly not union-oriented, must have the flexibility to develop the mix of management policies and innovative technology that they feel is most appropriate for the fishery and the economy of the province. The more that the management system can be customized to accommodate the uniqueness of a particular region or fishery, the more likely that it will be fully accepted by all those involved, and therefore function as a means of providing sustainable employment for individuals while enhancing the overall viability of rural regions.
The future of small rural communities like Change Islands will not survive under the present regime. Having destiny determined by Ottawa politicians and bureaucrats that barely know the geographical attributes of specific communities, and absolutely no comprehension or appreciation for their historical significance, is catastrophic to the whole province. Alternatively, having total jurisdictional management transferred to the provincial government would be equally as fatal.
A regional rights-based fishery, with minimal interference by government(s) once quotas’ have been determined, is preeminently necessary for an efficient, reliable and sustainable industry. Local communities and regions will then be empowered with the authority necessary to effectively and prudently monitor the resource and make decisions that are collectively beneficial to the long-term sustainability of the industry and, ultimately, the communities subservient to it. The total elimination of politics from the process, albeit an incredible task, will provide the way for sound, rational, judicious and level-headed determinations and potentially eradicate, or at least control, the implementation of policies that would be self-fulfilling, convenient and politically responsive. Unfortunately, for the Atlantic fishery and the people and communities dependent upon it, that has not always been the case.
Cabot Martin, one of the first people to warn about the destruction of the fishery in the early 1980s, summed up the future for Newfoundland and Labrador when he said, “We have for far too long blamed our weather, our location, or others for our problems. It’s about time we took a long, hard look in the mirror. No society can escape the responsibility for how it lives. And it is in that basic, fundamental way that gaining power over our fisheries is the first essential step to growing up.”
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