Get it while you can, fish harvesters say, handing out free cod in downtown St. John's

Cod fish being distributed in St. John's, N.L. (CTV News)

Newfoundland fish harvesters handed out free codfish in downtown St. John’s Wednesday, urging curious onlookers to get take advantage before — they believe — the cod stock dwindles again.

It took just over half an hour for about 2,000 pounds of fish to be distributed out of a truck parked on Harbour Drive in St. John’s, a tasty take on a protest organized by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW).

The union wants the federal government to re-impose stricter conditions on the cod fishery off of the northern coast of Newfoundland, alleging the reintroduction of foreign trawlers and offshore vessels will reverse decades of conservation work.

"Thirty-two years we’ve spent — I don’t even know what to say — trying to build this up," said Jim Chidley, a fisherman from Renews, N.L.

"Now, to have them take it away, because they’re going to bring those draggers back on the ground again."

In song, poetry, prose and politics, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have spent more than three decades mourning the collapse of the Northern cod fishery. With a few exceptions, commercial fishing of the stock has been prohibited since 1992, when then-Fisheries Minister John Crosbie returned to Newfoundland to announce a moratorium.

More than 30,000 people instantly lost their livelihoods in what was one of the single biggest layoffs in Canadian history. The province bled population for the fifteen years that followed.

Last month, Ottawa announced the "historic" re-opening of the commercial fishery. That move increased the total allowable catch for most inshore fishermen to around 15,000 tonnes, a marginal increase from the 13,000 tonnes that was allowed last year.

And it also allocated 1,000 tonnes to larger, offshore vessels, and another roughly 950 tonnes to foreign vessels — in line with obligations under the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

FFAW representatives — and many other fish harvesters — say the bigger offshore boats and foreign vessels are existential threats to the Northern cod’s recovery. They allege their fishing techniques are more destructive and less selective than techniques practiced by most inshore fish harvesters.

"This major cod stock will be destroyed in two years," Keith Smith, a fishermen from the Trinity Bay area of Newfoundland, pessimistically projected Wednesday.

The FFAW has been ramping up protest efforts over the past three weeks, with a letter writing campaign, and even crashing a news conference planned by provincial environment ministers from across the country.

Their protests have won them allies in Newfoundland and Labrador: Premier Andrew Furey, who initially said the change would "support local jobs," has since written to federal counterparts in Ottawa calling the moves insulting.

"An affront to the patience and commitment to stewardship demonstrated by the hardworking harvesters and processors of this province," he wrote in a letter to Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier.

But the response from federal officials seems to be muted. Seamus O’Regan, who represents the province in the federal cabinet, told radio station VOCM that fishermen in Newfoundland "can’t have your cake and eat it too."

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Lebouthillier’s office said the minister has met several times with representatives from the FFAW, and would continue to work with all parts of the industry.

"It's important to get it right, and that's why we will cautiously, but optimistically build back this fishery," a spokesperson wrote.

Chidley believes regulators haven’t learned anything, and accuses them of being more focused on the rules and fish hook regulations for the recreational fishery in the province — where people can fish five cod a day — than the offshore fishery, where big boats will take thousands.

"The only thing that they banned was the jigger."