Canada: Federal court rejects union application to put a halt to N.L.’s commercial northern cod fishery

Published 2024년 10월 19일

Tridge summary

The Federal Court of Canada has denied an injunction request by FFAW-Unifor to prevent offshore fleets from accessing northern cod, upholding a decision to lift a 27-year moratorium and reintroduce commercial fishing. The union, representing inshore fish harvesters and plant workers, argued that offshore fishing poses a threat to the already depleted cod stocks and challenged the department's science and quota allocation. Despite the court's decision, a judicial review is scheduled for 2025 to evaluate the minister's decision-making process and the science advice provided. In the meantime, the resumption of fishing is expected to support Newfoundland and Labrador's economy and employment, even as concerns about the stock's sustainability persist.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Federal Court of Canada has rejected an application from FFAW-Unifor for an injunction against offshore fleets being allowed to access northern cod. In a decision filed on Oct. 17, Justice Cecily Y. Strickland ruled that although the union representing inshore fish harvesters and plant workers in Newfoundland and Labrador had raised “a serious issue,” granting an injunction would not maintain the status quo of the 2023 stewardship fishery the union was seeking. Moratorium lifted The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced a moratorium on commercially fishing northern cod in 1992. Since then, there have been different forms of science-based fishing of the stock by inshore harvesters, with the most recent iteration being a stewardship fishery that had a 13,000-metric tonne quota. In June 2024, DFO announced via a press release that there would be a commercial fishery with a quota of 18,000 tonnes, including 1,080 allotted to Canadian ...

Source: Saltwire