Sex line not enough to win over fishermen

While much fun has been had with the Conservatives putting up a phone-sex line for lobster fishermen to get information on the government's new assistance program for the beleaguered industry, more interesting to me is the reaction of the fishermen to the aid package itself.

Fisheries minister Gail Shea made the announcement recently on a maritime wharf, with a backdrop of lobster fishermen behind her to frame the photo-op for the cameras. As they listened to the minister announce the details of the program, however, the backdrops came to life and turned on their master:

Shea told the crowd that the help would only be available to fishermen who collected under $50,000 in revenue in 2009, and who also recorded a 25 per cent drop in revenue compared to last year.

That prompted some fishermen to bellow comments that painted the aid package as a joke, an insult, and asked how they would feed their kids.

A few men stated loudly and plainly that none of the fishermen standing on that wharf would qualify for the help.

Later, and in a calmer tone, they would explain to Shea and reporters that they aren't eligible because the criteria measures gross rather than net revenues and doesn't account for the expenses that eat into those earnings.

Quite embarrassing. Did they not consult lobster fishermen before putting together a package that many of them would have serious issues with? If they did, why use them as a backdrop when you're giving them bad news? This is a foul-up all around for Shea and the Conservatives, from both a policy and a communications perspective.

And all the phone-sex lines in the world can't change that.

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B.C.'s growing salmon crisis

There’s a growing salmon crisis in British Columbia, and you can be assured it’s going to be an election issue on the left coast this fall, or whenever the next campaign comes. The fishery is a critical industry to the province that crosses many levels: commercial fishing, tourism, First Nations. The ripples of the apparent collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run, which DFO is now projecting will number 1.7 million sockeye after earlier projecting 13 million, will be widespread.

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh drew attention to the issue recently:

Ujjal Dosanjh, a Liberal MP whose riding lies near the north arm of the Fraser, said Thursday the situation is grave enough that it deserves to be the focus of an intergovernmental conference involving federal, state and provincial representatives.

The collapse of the Fraser run “is going to have an impact on the aboriginal community, the commercial fishery and potentially the ecosystem as well – and that's pretty significant,” said Mr. Dosanjh.

“Governments on both sides of the border [need] to come together to look at this situation and determine if there's anything we can do to ensure this doesn't continue.”

And a column by Stephen Hume in the Vancouver Sun today also draws attention to the issue:

Have we so degraded the Fraser that we are now in the early stages of an Atlantic cod scenario for British Columbia's iconic wild salmon? Is there something else going on in this enormous ecosystem that has implications for us humans who are perched atop the food chain, perhaps more precariously than we like to think?

I don’t claim to have the answers on what is a very complicated situation, and one that is fraught with sensitive and politically dicey questions (farmed vs. wild salmon, commercial fishers vs. sport fishers vs. First Nations treaty rights, and more).

But I do know that this is a very serious situation that isn’t getting the attention it deserves from either the provincial or federal governments. And I know how critical the salmon industry is to the province, and the ripples its collapse would have.

Sport fishing is critical to our tourism industry, with anglers from around the world spending big money to come into places like Campbell River to hook a big salmon. I know the commercial fishing industry is a major economic driver for the province, particularly small communities already hit hard by the softwood lumber dispute. These communities and families are struggling as it is. And I know the salmon fishery is a culturally vital way of life for many of our First Nations communities.

So I think Dosanjh’s call for a salmon summit is very important. The stakeholders need to all come to the table with the various levels of government, and particularly the scientists at DFO, to talk about just what the heck is going on here, and how we can all work together to safeguard the resource for our generation, and for future ones.

It’s past time that the profile of this issue was raised.

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Another Harper flip-flop

From the Vancouver Sun comes word of yet another campaign promise Steve Harper has decided he'd rather not keep (h/t While the Earth Burns).

During, and just after, the election:

Harper, while unveiling his “Stand up for B.C. platform” in Victoria during the 2006 election campaign, promised an inquiry into the “mismanagement” of the Fraser River fishery.

He reiterated that promise after becoming prime minister in a public statement that included a vow to end “racially divided” fisheries on the West Coast. But the government hasn’t fulfilled either vow.

And today:

(CPC Fisheries Minister Loyola) Hearn said a judicial probe wouldn’t likely unearth anything that wasn’t raised in two 2005 reports, one by a parliamentary committee and another by former B.C. judge Bryan Williams.

“There’s a lot more important things to do, and … judicial inquiries cost five, 10, 15, 20 million dollars,” Hearn told The Vancouver Sun.

“And there are a lot of ways I could spend (that money) that would do a lot of good, rather than finding out the same thing we’ve already found out at least twice in the past, and probably knew even before we had these studies."

Think they'll ever admit it was a stupid promise to make in the first place, driven not by sound policy but by political opportunism? Nah, me neither.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually glad Steve has sagely decided to flip-flop on this one. And, in fact, if he's interested I'd be happy to send over a list of other campaign promises I'd love him to flip-flop on. You know how to reach me Steve.

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