By Myles Higgins

For years the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, through provincial leaders of every political stripe, have lobbied Ottawa to enact custodial management of ground fish stocks. Doing so would enable Canada to deny foreign fishing fleets access to stocks on the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and on the Flemish Cap off the coast of the province.

Nobody listened.

During the last election campaign Prime Minister Dithers promised he would see that these stocks were protected, but like so many of Mr. Martin’s promises, this one was left unfulfilled.

Recently a report released world wide by the International Fund for Animal Welfare stated what Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans have known and been screaming for longer than anyone cares to remember. The report showed that, although there are a number of factors involved, overfishing is the primary reason ground fish stocks in Atlantic Canada have not been able to rebound and that no bigger threat exists than foreign fleets just outside Canada’s 200 mile limit.

Nobody listened.

Now a new voice has been added to the chant. The Canadian National Chamber of Commerce, which represents the chambers of every province in the country, has unanimously voted to lobby Ottawa for custodial management in Atlantic waters.

As business people they have come to understand the impact that foreign overfishing is having, and will continue to have, on this once thriving industry. An industry that at one time was the backbone of Atlantic Canada. An industry that is now perhaps only a few years away from being nothing more than a footnote in Canadian history books.

Nobody is listening.

Ottawa still has not invoked custodial management of these crucial spawning grounds, which we have every right to do under UN law. Instead they are attempting to have cod added to the threatened species list. This would have the effect of severely limiting any possible use of the growing inshore stocks by Canadian fishers and might even impact the harvest of other species inside our waters. It will do nothing to stop foreign draggers from raping one of the world’s largest offshore fish nurseries or helping rebuild the offshore stocks.

What will it take before officials in Ottawa understand the importance of protecting these waters? Will the cod have to become as rare as a mosquito in January, or perhaps as rare as finding a politician with a conscience?

It’s high time the federal government stopped covering its ASSets in the international community and did what was right for its own people.

During the last election campaign Mr. Martin made two important promises to Newfoundland and Labrador. One was that the province would be given a fair share of its offshore oil revenues. The other was to take control of the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap.

After months of negotiation, debate, infighting, outfighting, hair pulling, eye gouging and even a slight incidence of revolution on the part of Premier Danny Williams, Martin finally buckled and signed an agreement on oil revenues. The question everyone in the province is asking is what happened to that other election promise?

Everyone expects Paul Martin to shirk his responsibility and shy away from that promise, it’s his standard operating practice, but why hasn’t Premier Williams shown as much backbone on this issue as he did on oil revenues? It has become very clear to everyone in Canada that the Prime Minister will only honor his promises when he is pushed into a corner he can’t maneuver out of. The surprise is the fact that Premier Williams hasn't found a nice dark corner and begun pushing.

Why is this issue not being addressed? The Atlantic Premiers Conference will be taking place in PEI this month. Even though the future of the ground fish industry, the livelihood of everyone who depends on it and the very survival of rural communities throughout Atlantic Canada are hanging in the balance, the issue of custodial management is not on the agenda.

Still, nobody is listening.

For more by Myles Higgins: http://www.freenewfoundlandlabrador.blogspot.com/