NDP welcomes commitment to protect owner operator / fleet separation

New Democrats welcome the government’s decision to preserve the current owner operator policies for the East Coast.

After months of sidestepping questions by the Official Opposition NDP about whether Conservatives support this policy, Minister of Fisheries & Oceans Keith Ashfield confirmed today that fleet separation and owner operator rules for Atlantic Canada will remain intact.

“Our fishermen and their families in Eastern Canada and Quebec are breathing a sigh of relief today,” said Robert Chisholm, NDP critic for Fisheries & Oceans. “This spring the Minister received over 10 000 submissions in support of the owner operator / fleet separation policy. I am relieved that after this extraordinary pressure, the Minister finally decided to listen to our fishermen and coastal communities.

Owner Operator / Fleet Separation is the cornerstone of the inshore fishery. Fleet separation prevents a company from both catching and processing fish while the owner- operator policy requires fishing license holder to catch the fish.