A salmon fisherman for more than 65 years, Bob Rezansoff says that the run is beyond impressive even in the context of earlier days when salmon fisheries were booming; "Seeing this many fish returning, at any point across all my years of fishing, is like dying and going to heaven."Massive Sockeye Returns Blowing the Lid […]
UFAWU-Unifor wrote to DFO on August 2nd urging management to use the actual facts of the Skeena harvests and run size. There are no scientific or biological reasons to close the fishery before the IFMP closure date of August 10th. The Skeena fishery restraints in the IFMP were a result of pre-season Consultations and further […]
CAMPBELL RIVER, JULY 14 – UFAWU-Unifor has learned that DFO will delay the Area F and Area G Troll Chinook fisheries until August 16, 2023. This delay, despite being promoted as a conservation measure, will provide little benefit for Chinook while significantly harming fishermen. “By early August, the majority of Fraser Chinook have left Dixon […]
Feb 22, 2023, Campbell River — The United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union has launched a Parliamentary Petition requesting an immediate stop to any further foreign ownership or beneficial interest in Canadian licenses and quotas. The petition, which has been sponsored by Fleetwood—Port Kells MP Ken Hardie, aims to protect small-scale fish harvesters and ensure that the benefits of commercial […]
Campbell River, Feb 10, 2023 — Canada, BC, and 15 First Nations, the governing partners of the Northern Shelf Bioregion Marine Protected Area Network proposal, have officially announced their endorsement of the Network Action Plan for the MPA at the IMPAC5 Forum this week in Vancouver. The Northern Shelf Bioregion encompasses 2/3rds of BC’s coast, […]
Yesterday, UFAWU-Unifor learned the disheartening details of the Pacific Salmon Commercial Licence Retirement Program following a Fisheries and Oceans Canada announcement. The announcement outlined a reverse auction system that will see harvesters competing to sell their licences for the lowest price. Harvesters have objected to a reverse auction since the buy-back was announced. DFO also […]
Yesterday, UFAWU staff and leadership did our best to pull together short-notice meetings in support of access to Fraser sockeye commercial fisheries for Canadian South Coast salmon fleets in light of the news that the PSC/Fraser Panel Canadian Caucus had rejected implementation of the PSC independent science panel recommended run sizes & decided to hold […]
Yesterday, UFAWU-Unifor learned that Canadians would bear the brunt of conservation as Canada rejected Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) recommendations and the U.S. accepted them. Despite PSC recommendations that would support a fishery, the Fraser River Panel announced that “All Canadian Panel Area waters remain closed to commercial salmon fishing,” citing a precautionary approach. United States […]
On Aug 4, 2022, UFAWU-Unifor learned from DFO that “marine commercial fisheries in Area 4 will close after August 7, 2022.” As of last Aug 1, 2022, the Skeena run size was at an impressive 4.1 million — making it one of the largest in decades. Despite such high numbers, all economic fisheries together will […]
For the past five years, misinformation surrounding the Herring fishery has been publicly circulated — much of it calling for a moratorium on the entire fishery. This year, when the herring gillnet fleet did not catch all of their allocated Total Allowable Catch (TAC) in the Strait of Georgia (SOG), this trend of misinformation continued, […]
UFAWU-Unifor, in collaboration with a number of harvesters and commercial fishing organizations, has released a video on the impact that the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI) has had on harvesters and the action still desperately needed to properly protect salmon. Watch the short video here:
Following news that the Royal Canadian Air Force recently retired its Buffalo search-and-rescue planes from service without a replacement craft implemented, UFAWU-Unifor Vice President Helen-Anne Beans penned a letter of protest on behalf of the Union and BC harvesters. Read the letter below: Dear Mario Pelletier, It has been brought to the attention of UFAWU-Unifor […]