'Impossible to understand' trawler licences: MacAulay

P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay is expressing outrage at a recent decision to allow mid-water trawlers into the Gulf of St. Lawrence herring fishery.

'I didn't think any of them would have the gall to do the likes of this.' MP Lawrence MacAulay

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn announced two mid-water trawl licences for the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Wednesday.

"Can you tell me why a minister who would care anything about the inshore or any part of the fishery allows such a thing to happen?" said MacAulay Friday.

"They must understand they are destroying the fishery, and in particular the inshore fishery. You know I really felt that the likes of this would not happen. I didn't think any of them would have the gall to do the likes of this. Why would anybody in government allow such a thing to happen? It is just about impossible to understand."

MacAulay said he's already tried to speak to Hearn about the issue, but has not yet been able to arrange a meeting. He said Ottawa can expect to hear plenty not only from him, but from others concerned about the fishery.

The licences are going to a 12.5-metre vessel out of northern New Brunswick and to a 38-metre vessel called the Julianne III leased by Gemini Fisheries, a subsidiary of the Barry Group of Newfoundland.

Ed Frenette, executive director of theP.E.I. Fishermen's Association, calls the Julianne III a "killing machine" that will take everything in its path. He said a mid-water trawl can put out nets as wide as five football fields and as long as400 metres.

There will be restrictions on where the vessels can fish, including an exclusion zone off northeastern P.E.I. The Julianne III cannot fish within 19 kilometres of shore.

But the P.E.I. group does not believe the trawlers should be allowed in the gulf at all.

Frenette said the association has been in contact with other fishing groups in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to set up a coalition to fight the decision.

The licences are supposed to replace two existing trawl licences attached to large seiners, which fish with somewhat smaller nets, based in New Brunswick.

In the fall of 2003, New Brunswick seiners drew angry protesters seeking new rules for seining in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Those rules were eventually changed.