The Association of Seafood Producers shares industry concerns related to safety about the maximum-length rules for vessels used in the inshore fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.
ASP says it shares concerns expressed elsewhere, including apparent discrepancies in vessel length rules in the Maritimes versus Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Modifying a vessel to comply with federal regulations, as has been reported in recent days in the media, appears illogical,” says Derek Butler, Executive Director, Association of Seafood Producers. “The changes under these regulations that must be made to vessels used in the inshore fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, raises many questions about stability and safety concerns.”
Butler suggests the first question needs to be safety, and says the platforms that harvesters work from need to be built and adapted with that as the first criteria. “After that, one needs to give consideration to economics, to resource access and quotas, and how we can best land quality product. But first and foremost, safety. That’s job one, and I think the review around vessel regulations that the House of Commons Fisheries Committee called for in 2018 needs to be done.”
In 2018, ASP provided input to that same Committee. One of the recommendations from the report was for DFO to streamline and standardize commercial vessel policy across the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador.