Prawn Advisory Board Meeting Updates Yesterday, the Prawn Advisory Board held a Pre-IFMP Planning Meeting. Two notable updates from the meeting are outlined below. Tubs and Labelling The tub size maximum has been raised to 942ml/32oz. Standardized Tub Labels will be required as of the 2023 season, which will include information to identify the vessel, date of catch, […]
New Fishing Doc Focuses On UFAWU President James Lawson UFAWU-Unifor President James Lawson is the focus of a new documentary called Our Coast. Directed by natural history film and TV researcher Ella Van Cleave, the film has been released as part of the Friday Harbour Film Festival. "Our Coast paints a portrait of fisherman James Lawson’s […]
Kyle Louis has been elected into the position of UFAWU-Unifor Vice President. Kyle was elected into the role at a UFAWU-Unifor General Executive Board meeting on October 18, 2022. He previously represented GN Area E Prawn/Crab/Herring on the UFAWU-Unifor GEB. Kyle is a 4th generation commercial fisherman and owner-operator fishing Gillnet prawn, crab, and herring. He […]
Following a recent decision to close the Area H South Coast chum fishery until further notice due to drought, Area H Troller Jody Eriksson compiled historical data that suggests current environmental conditions are not abnormal for this time of year. To illustrate East Coast Vancouver Island river flows at this time of year, Eriksson focused […]
NSB MPAn Holds October Meetings The Northern Shelf Bioregion Marine Protected Area Network (NSB MPAn) proposal consultation process is currently open for public engagement. Over the month of October 2022, a series of in-person events will take place this month in Campbell River, Masset, Daajing Giids, Prince Rupert, and Kitimat. The meetings are scheduled as […]
September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It is a day of remembrance for victims of the Canadian residential school system. The symbolism of the orange shirt comes from former residential school student Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, whose orange shirt, bought by her grandmother, was taken away […]
With deep sadness, we announce the passing of UFAWU-Unifor Vice President, Helen-Anne Beans. Helen passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, September 25th. Born on March 30th, 1990, Helen was 32 years old at the time of her death. After many years of Membership in the Union and taking an integral role in a 2018 organizing campaign, […]
The Northern Shelf Bioregion Marine Protected Area Network (NSB MPAn) proposal consultation process is now open for public engagement. UFAWU’s Business Agent Emily Orr is a Commercial Fishery Representative Member of the Integrated Advisory Committee, which serves as an information conduit between the MPAn coordinators and stakeholders. After a series of recent update meetings offered by […]
Today, the PSC recommended and the Panel adopted a run size of 3.8M for the Summer run and 2.05M for the Late run (an increase from 2M). Despite a small run size increase to Late run Sockeye, there is no additional quota available for Area B and H at this time. Area B quota remains […]
Today, UFAWU-Unifor met with Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship Josie Osborne. Union leadership and staff explained the devastating impact that the PSSI closures had on fishers, the desperate need for support akin to what the agriculture industry has received, and more. Others present included Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture Fin Donnelly; Assistant […]
PSC Update From DFO The Fraser Panel met today for their normally scheduled meeting. The accounted run to date of Fraser Sockeye is 3,375,300 and the in-season adopted run size is 5,544,000 (pre-season expectation at the p50 was 9,775,000). Summers are tracking below the p50 through Mission but are projected to increase to above the […]
NNFC Delayed Licences Update Last week, UFAWU-Unifor staff were made aware of an issue regarding licence wait times facing Northern Native Fishing Corporation harvesters. On the morning of Monday, July 25, UFAWU-Unifor released a media release to inform the media about this issue: “Northern Native Fishing Corporation harvesters have been unable to fish due to […]