Farm Aid

[Digby]

As a fisherman im Glad to hear the Goverment is helping our farmers .

I just hope the money goes to where it really is needed .

I expect if we had a package of fishing aid it would end up in the hands of about 10-20 multi millionairs ,and thise who needed it would see nothing .

I don't know any thing about our Farm industries but i hope the little honest hard working farmers still have a chance of getting the help our goverment is trying to give them.

If they was to help Fisherman ,I suspect it would all go to ITQ holders who own no boats , no expenses . no payments . And who just set Back and draw the profit of the working fisherman .

I find as a Fisherman The ITQ fees that have to be paid are unbearable along with our high fuel cost and low prices for fish .

I now burn 1000 dollars a day in fuel and have to pay all expences . I have to pay half my catch to ITQ holders before i can start paying any bills . These ITQ holders have no expences what so ever .

Ive made 3 trips in the past two weeks and i don't think i paid my fuel after i pay the ITQ fees .

Because alot of fisherman paid the ITQ fees upfront and they lose the quota on april 1st . And lose the money they paid out . People got desperate to get some of their money back . Last couple trips I beleave some was forced to tow small codends to try to get some of the money back paid to ITQ holders back . There was boat loads of Very very small fish landed . the prices of haddock went from 1.20 a lb out of the boat to .30 a lb . they had paid .50 up front for the quota to these rich ITQ holders .

I just hope things are going Better on the Farms!

[Digby]

They are talking that haddock prices will stay at .30 to .40 a lb all summer this year because of a large increase in Quota on Georges Bank .

Fuel now is sold for .60 a liter and i hear going to .65 . I burn 70 liters an hour and i only got half the power of some boats . ( I think the Native boats get their fuel paid for by goverment though)

ItQ holders are wanting at least .30 a lb for the quota ,some still want .50 lb .

Id say that the most a fisherman could hope for would be .20 a lb if lucky for haddock this summer after the ITQ holder is paid .

So even if a fisherman was good enough to keep a catch rate of 10,000 lb a day average ,which is probly high for an average . ( the itq holder ashore gets 3000-5000 a day clear profit)

thats 2000 a day and about 1100 will go in fuel .then you got crews , and supplies . a engine job is about 40,000 . nets 10,000 , ect ect .

Maybe i better head for alberta .

I hope things are better on the farms or its going to get hard to find food someday .

[I Miss Trudeau]

I just hope  the money goes to where it really is needed.

I expect  if we had a package of fishing aid it would end up in the hands  of about 10-20 multi millionairs ,and thise who  needed it would see  nothing .

Thats pretty much what happens with our farmers, too.

I  now burn 1000 dollars a day in fuel  and have to pay  all expences . I have to pay half my catch to ITQ holders  before i can start paying any bills . These ITQ holders have no expences what so ever .

Kind of like any other job, really. Except that you have the pleasure, or displeasure, of knowing exactly how much your "boss" is making from your labour.

[Digby]

Well its not really the same I Miss Trudeau , As I have to buy the business and take all the risk .

I have the boat payments , If no fish I still get the bills .

ITQ holders don't have any money invested what so ever , most their money is invested in golf clubs and homes in florida . Most of them have not worked in a decade or Two . Some never worked in their lives .

About the only expence they have is to hire crooked lieing lobiest to hang around goverment offices . And to brainwash the gullibul Public .

Some of the really good set up ones draw 100,000 dollars a week some weeks off many modern day slaves like me .] Some of them own 20 or more of these ITQ quotas.

All they got to do is help crooked goverment get elected in return . Give a cut to their crooked politiceans in the form of campain money . They pretty well own the politiceans.

[I Miss Trudeau]

Some of the really  good set up ones draw  100,000 dollars a week  some weeks  off many modern day slaves like me .]

Ok, so the system sucks... but "modern day slaves" is going a bit far. You could always sell the boat and look for a new job if its really that bad.

[Digby]

I suppose your right But . I'm only educated in fishing .

It's all ive ever done ,back then i never in the slightest thought that some day our goverment would actually give ownership of the fish swimming in our oceans to crooked friends who help keep them elected.

I would of thought that the men with the fishing history would end up being able to keep fishing the fishing grounds that they and their fathers before them have always fished . I never in my slightest dreams ever figgured that ome day the fish I make my liveing off would be given as gifts to friends of goverment who in the majority of cases never been on the water in their lives .

I know people that as of yesterday took 85,000 dollar losses from being forced by goverment to buy the fish before they went fishing . It turned out the fish was not there . They had bought fish the goverment said existed ,but reality proved did not exist .

You lose what ever you buy every year on april first , you catch it before then or lose it .

Its hard for a man to change his career at 40 when you have no other training .

I actually would of left the Country and fished in a other country ,but my wife refused to leave Canada and after 18 years of liveing to gether i really did not want to leave her behind.

Canadian fisherman can find it much easier to get fishing rights in other countries then they can get rights to fish in Canada . I know fishermen that have already left Canada to fish other countries oceans because of this ITQ quota system . I think if you study it you will find an exact repeat of the Landlord peasant system that drove people out of England in the middle ages . History does repeat itself , because of Lack of history being remembered .

Generations of young Beuracrates and law makers have forgotten what a mess the Landlord peasant System was in history so they allow history to repeat its self .

The big problem now days there is no more new worlds for the workers amonst us to run off too ,to Escape being peasants.

[CAGERATTLER]

Maybe your fishing the wrong thing.

I know a lobster fisherman on P.E.I. that makes over 50 thousand fishing for two months or so then draws U.I. the rest of the year.

His wife also goes out with him a few times and ends up drawing U.I.!

Not all fishermen are starving to death like you imply!

[Digby]

Your right about lobster fishing , its now big bucks .

But its impossible to get into , lobster licences in my area start at 850,000 dollars more then ever could be repaid by normal fisherman . The only buyers of licences is goverment , and people with laudered money at hand ,and maybe people who already have 2 lobster boats paid for .

Lobster , And snow crab is big bucks . and its mostly privately owned there is no itq quota in this lobster fishery .

Almost all my comunity is lobster fishermen ,most boat owners make 200,000 or more a year after every thing is paid .

District 34 lobster is where the big bucks are made and also district 35 . Pei is minor compared to south west nova scotia .

Lobstering use to be a job you could hardly make a living at , but now it just keeps getting better and better , more lobsters every year and if they get scarce the price goes high , 2 weeks ago they was getting 10 dollars a lb out of the boat . most small lobster boats gross between 300,000 - 400,000 a year around here about 1/2 profit . Its a 6 month season mostly just the winter months ,and they usally spend their summers camping .

Most fisherman now days don't want the cod back as they beleave an oncean depleated in cod is a lobster crab factory . This is how the Goverment keeps the wrongs of the east coast fishery quiet as alot are making more money then they ever dreamed .

Snow crab is made newfoundland fishermen alot of money more then the cod ever made them . but licences are unbuyable in these type of fisheries . actually the rich ITQ holders been trying to buy up lobster licences with their ITQ money also , one big ITQ holder now owns 20 lobster licences even though the law is one per man.

Also a good percentage now is all native owned the normal small native band here has 15-20 of these lobster licences given to them from the goverment .

Thats why most fishermen are not complaining the majority are lobster fishermen , but if your not already a lobster fisherman , and your not native your chances of entery in this fishery are 0 .

All bothers me is the money is there in my industry too ,but im forced to give it to others just because of goverment . I could easily beat a lobster fisherman if i was not in a ITQ system , but sence i am i'll be lucky to make any money this year. Might lose my shirt.

Another point ,every day i fish i throw back 10,000 -20,000 dollars worth of lobsters (a trawler can catch what 5 lobster boats catch but we throw them back), You can imagin why some fisherman like me are not complaining , they can be sold for about 2.00 a lb less then lobster fishermen get cash if a fisherman was to sneak them in and steal them . I suspect i know why alot in my situation remain quiet to all our wrongs . Our ocean is produceing lobsters like never before in history ,every where i tow my net i get them big time .

Maybe im better off just becoming Corrupt and shutting my mouth about this landlord peasant system i have to live in. Just be a Crooked Peasant .

Thats my real problem I truely desire to make an honest liveing . I don't want to cheat lie and steal .

I can get 1.30 a lb cash for cod if i want to steal them and no itq fees . No enforcement much either . i probly can catch about 30,000 lb on a good day , do that 2-3 times a year and just shut my mouth then tell every body the goverment knows what they are doing all is well on the east coast !

Thats why you don't hear no Complaining we only got 1-2 honest fishermen left and i just happen to be one of them . Most think i'm a fool ..........just shut your mouth go at it , get your share most tell me .

[Cameron]

What's an ITQ?

Who do you blame for the iregularities in the industry? The lack of government control? The rotten fisherman and shoddy government enforcement?

How would you change the east coast fishing industry?

[Digby]

Cameron under religous and moral issues i got a post that explains ITQs you might want to read it over .

To Make a long story Short ITQ = Individual Transverable Quota . It means the fish are owned by Somebody before they are caught . A fisherman has to buy the fish from business men before he leaves the warfe to go fishing . Every Cod fish or haddock or pollock in our ocean is owned by somebody before it is caught . They usally charge half the value of the fish before it is caught . Some cases they actually charge the fisherman 70 -120 % of what a fish is worth . I know lots of Cases where fisherman have to take a .20 cent a lb loss on fish to bring it to a warfe . One guy i know had to throw 100,000 of pollack back dead as to bring it to the warfe he would have to pay 20,000 dollars as they was charging him .60 a lb for quota and paying him .40 for the fish .

Who do i blame? Fishermans greed is a little to blame , but any goverment should know human nature also includes greed and should make laws accordingly.

99% of the Blame should be put on DFO as they are totally incompedent . They know knothing about how to manage a ocean . Most the trouble is the way the power is handed out . Ottawa with the power , then halifax , then local communities have almost no say in how things are done . So the people that actually know whats happening in a area almost always are not heard or even paid attention too . The only ones DFO ever even listens tooare corrupt lieing lobbiest hired by rich powerfull men that care nothing about our oceans future they only want more in their pockets . The ocean should be managed from the communities affected and the communities wo have their eyes on real life situations . Ottawas only real roll in fisheries mannagement should be to keep corruption out , to make sure its done fairly and that certain ones in the community don't use community based management as nothing but a seat of personal gain. Ottawa Just plain and simply don't know nothing about what their powerfull pens are really doing ,and in most cases don't care .

Fisheries Beuracrates should of had way more resposibility for their actions .At this time nobody loses their positions if they mismanage a fishery .So i find most of them don't care if they do make stupid laws.

Also law breaking fishermen should be more accountable . At this time the biggest crooks are the ones who got rich . Law breaking fishermen should of been removed , the licences that broke the law should be taken and put in a public draw for others to draw for who might be more responsible . This would cut enforcement cost as then members of the community with no licences and no other chance of entry would have every reason to help with catching law breaking fishermen.

Fishermen with real life experience and nothing to gain personally should be used in lawmaking as now only beuracrates with no real knowledge and business men with reasons to gain from laws are used.

No individual should own the Fish swimming in a area , if any thing let the communities own the fish on their shores . Ownership of fish should only be after they are on your vessel . NO man should be able to make people pay for fish that are still swimming . They may not even exist .

DFO science needs to start really working and be accoutable for mistakes . Real fishermen should be used in science also.

Maybe DFO should have one or 2 fishing boats on hire to see if other boats are telling the truth when fishing an area .

Also no man should be able to own too much of the fishing rights . its every bodys fish , and it should be spread around . Its no place to have 1-5 men owning it all . It make's the most perfect place on earth for laundered money the way things are now ,this has to be stopped.

[Digby]

Just one more thing I could very easily make a living without the ITQ system . A normal trawler in the 65 foot range Has to pay out 200,000 to 300,000 a year in ITQ fees to rich land loving business men .

At the end the year the fisherman is probly more in debt . You could put 1/3 the effort in fishing and leave some for tommorow and make way more money if you did not have to pay these ITQ holders setting ashore .

Amost every ITQ holder don't want a boat or a business as they know the 50% they charge the working fishermen is Way more profit then is really in fishing .

The fisherman have to cut money out of boat repairs , boat safety gear , as well as their personal income to pay these land based business men.

The ITQ system is Modern Day Slavery ,no other way to put it .

We have not even talked about discarding , The ITQ system has brought discarding into our industry like the public of CANada would never beleave unless the seen it with their own eyes . Its lied ,and Lied about by these corrupt lobbiest that itq holders hire to keep their 200,000 to 300,000 a year rolling in for Eternity . OR TILL THE FISH STOCKS COMPLETLY COLLAPSE !

[I Miss Trudeau]

The ITQ system is Modern Day Slavery ,no other way to put it .

Except for one large, and obvious, difference: no one forces you to fish.

Or do the ITQ holders keep you in a cage and whip you if you don't bring back enough fish each day?

[CAGERATTLER]

As a fisherman im Glad to hear the Goverment is helping our farmers .

Too bad you're not glad enough to have structured your quote this way::"" As a fisherman im Glad to hear the ""LIBERAL""" Goverment is helping our farmers."""

[Digby]

Im still wondering if it is farm aid or an other plot to steal the countries money by the Liberals .

Time will tell !