Ferry system will hurt North Coast Fisheries

(Nain, NL.) April 22, 2004. Vice President Tony Andersen, of the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) expressed great disappointment in the recently announced reconfiguration of the North Coast Marine service.

Andersen participated in the fisheries conference that concluded today in Nain, and heard of the negative impact the new routing will have on shipping frozen fish products. "To ship frozen fish products in containers or reefers from the north coast to have them unloaded on the dock in Cartwright and then to reload them to a passenger ferry to ship to Lewisporte is unacceptable. Without any warehousing, mechanical services or secured area available in Cartwright, containers are left unprotected. The loading and unloading is not worth the risk."

LIA was even prepared to accept an alternative of shipping products direct to Lewisporte, even if the turnaround took longer than the system announced for this year. LIA is involved in the seafood business with Torngait Fish Producers Cooperative and the Labrador Inuit Development Corporation. Greg Flowers, President of Torngait Fish Producers Cooperative and Keith Watts, General Manager, raised their concerns at the conference. "If the crab plant at Makkovik has a heavy production schedule, and a high catch rate, the plant will be forced to close down if acceptable shipping arrangements are not available," said Flowers.

Andersen also referred to ongoing consultations between north coast communities and the provincial government over the last year. "It appears that the recent decision has not taken our north coast fisheries into account. Our whole fishery is in jeopardy," says Andersen. "Our North Coast Transportation Committee and others have stressed for the last year the need for a service that was built on the previous system from Lewsiporte. We want a system and vessels with efficient on-loading and off-loading capability, with suitable on-board capacity and storage, and with fast turnaround - for our people and our goods."

President William Andersen has indicated he will be contacting Minister Tom Rideout to raise LIA's concerns about the proposed system, and its impact on the fishing industry and the overall shipment of goods to the north coast. "We had a frustrating shipping season last year. We had hoped our presentations to provincial government would have been understood."

The Labrador Inuit Association represents over 5,300 Labrador Inuit. Labrador Inuit live in Northern Labrador, other parts of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and across Canada.

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Contact: June Perry
Communications Director
(709) 753-0794