Standing with Labradorians for their just rewards

LETTER TO THE EDITOR                                                                                

On June 16 the Broadcast did an interview with my friend, MP Philip Earle, who I’ve known for around 45 years.  He talked about the lack of cod for the Labrador Coast people with the majority of cod now is in the 2J zone. I consider myself to be very knowledgeable about the fishery in 2J.

I started fishing in 3K for a number of years and when the fish got scarce, I headed up the Labrador Coast as my forefathers did in the schooner days. I spent 10 years up Northern Labrador and I am sorry to say I caught the last cod in Makkovik in 1990, two years before the moratorium; they were 32 years before they could get one to eat. 

Some of the reasons for that was too much pressure put on it because of the lack of fish in other areas. Also, when the factory freezer shrimp trawlers started fishing in 2J they not only scooped up the food for the cod but also dragged up the baby cod and turbot and whatever was in the path of the dragnet. Then the Canadian Government made a deal with Russia for 50,000 M.T. of caplin in 2J per year for five years.  They caught their 50,000 the first year but only 1,000 M.T. the second year. They had cleaned it all up, no food left for the other fish that depended on the caplin.

When the moratorium was called the people of 2J had a big problem to get compensation because they had no landings to show for the previous two years while people on the Island who never caught a cod but got their stamps from caplin and lobster. Many people lost their jobs but some people on the Island managed to get earnings from caplin, lobster and crab.

While some in Southern Labrador did get some crab, there were very few further up north and in the Makkovik area, it was nonexistent. The cod, turbot and salmon, their main fisheries, had all disappeared.

In 1990 Makkovik had a brand-new fish plant for cod and turbot and to my knowledge not one pound has been processed in that plant since, all because there was nothing to process. That plant provided work for the Labrador people from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Nain.

Although I have not spent as much time in Labrador as Phillip Earle, I consider it my second home, and I will stand with him to try and get for the Labrador people their just rewards. These are people who survived on the riches of the land and the ocean. They need to be treated as equals and with respect.

(Ret.) Capt. Wilfred Bartlett

CBS, NL