Category: Saint John

Fishermen walked out of a meeting in Halifax with Transport Canada officials yesterday frustrated with a lack of answers by the bureaucrats.

Ian MacPherson, general manager of the PEI Fishermen’s Association, told CBC fishermen have been requesting, for more than a year, a comprehensive and timely plan to help the industry comply with the new Fishing Vessel Safety Regulations.

Representatives from 15 fishing groups met with government officials yesterday but a lot of their questions went unanswered. They asked if some of the new equipment could be phased in because it costs thousands of dollars a boat. MacPherson also says there’s a lot of grey area in how the new regulations will be interpreted.

A coalition of environmental groups says Canada is lagging behind the U-S and Europe when it comes to labels on seafood.

The coalition called Seachoice, gave Canada a grade of “F” because of a lack of details such as the fish’s scientific name, where and how it was caught. Colleen Turlo of the Ecology Action Centre says because of the inadequate labelling consumers don’t have the health and environmental information they should have.