AGREEMENT NUMBER 40012128 VOL. 73NO.2 Season’s Greetings I DECEMBER, 2008 I VANCOUVER, B.C. VANCOUVER, $1 SHOREWORKERS THE FISHERMAN, DECEMBER 2008 2 SAFETY A Merry Christmas NS court decision puts and Happy New Year to all our friends and fishermen. off WorkSafe challenge Thanks for your support in 2008. Appeal Court rules province can Part II (which includes occupa- tional health and safety regula- govern worker safety on boats tions). For fishermen working in company challenge month that the case was “still in provincial jurisdiction in Nova to the jurisdiction of the process” but noted that other Scotia, he said, the Occupational WorkSafeBC on related cases will likely have to be Health and Safety Act effectively A board fishing vessels resolved before the trial judge takes the place of Part II of the has been sidelined by the court brings it forward. He added that it Canada Labour Code. after the Court of Appeal in Nova may come back some time in the “As Mersey Seafoods ... is a Scotia overturned a key ruling new year. provincial undertaking, Part II of that had prompted the challenge Among the other cases is one the Canada Labour Code and the S.M. PRODUCTS (BC)LTD. in the first place. involving ferries, as well as the regulations are replaced by the PROVEN MARKETERS OF NORTH PACIFIC HALIBUT SINCE 1990 Jim Pattison Enterprises, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal rul- Nova Scotia’s OHS Act,” Justice owner of Canadian Fishing ing in the Mersey Seafoods case, Michaud wrote. “But that substi- LONG LINE HALIBUT, Company, and Kevin Smith, which came down last May. tution does not change the feder- ZN GROUNDFISH & FAS BLACK COD owner of the Western Investor, In the initial Mersey ruling, the al purpose — the Canada along with a numbered company, company had challenged the juris- Shipping Act does not aim to BUYING AND OFFLOADING STATIONS: launched court action in diction of the Nova Scotia’s exclude occupational health and 10 Stations in British Columbia November, 2007 to challenge the Occupational Health and Safety safety legislation. Nova Scotia’s 7 Stations in Alaska and Washington jurisdiction of WorkSafeBC to Act in regulating health and safe- OHS Act does not frustrate any TOP PRICES FOR TOP QUALITY conduct vessel inspections related ty on board fishing vessels. The federal statutory purpose.” SUPPORTED BY TOP SERVICE to occupational safety on board case followed several charges that Although the legal decision is fishing vessels. Osprey Marine were brought against Mersey not immediately binding on the Ice and Bait available upon request Ltd.,, which operates the hake fac- Seafoods for violations of the Act courts elsewhere in Canada, it Available 24 hours a day tory trawler Osprey Marine, also on board the factory shrimp would likely guide judges in mak- Office: 604-946-7665 • Toll-free: 1-888-962-5577 launched its own challenge to trawler Mersey Venture. ing decisions in similar cases. At Jorn: 604-657-9260 WorkSafe’s jurisdiction. The Nova Scotia Supreme the same time, the case is likely to g Blake: 604-290-2454 yin A preliminary hearing was held Court ruled that safety on board go to the Supreme Court of bu od ow k C Rob: 604-836-3474 N lac in the case earlier this year but it ships is exclusively a federal mat- Canada before it is finally settled. S B FA Gord: 604-644-9980 Rob: 604-418-6867 has not proceeded any further. ter and threw out the provincial In the meantime, WorkSafeBC Canadian Fishing Company charges. The decision was fol- is continuing with its inspections www.halibut.ca executive vice-president Don lowed closely by fishing compa- of vessel safety and stability based McLeod said in an interview last nies and vessel owners on both on the Memorandum of coasts and helped trigger the lat- Understanding signed with est court challenge in B.C. Transport Canada in 2001. But in a detailed ruling May 9, That MOU, which sets out 2008, three Nova Scotia Appeal individual responsibilities for each Court justices overturned that agency as well as areas of shared ALLIED decision and reinstated the work, came after a long campaign charges against Mersey Seafoods by fishermen to get the former SHIBUILDERS for safety violations. Workers Compensation Board In the written unanimous deci- (now WorkSafeBC) involved in sion, Justice Joel Fichaud noted setting standards and carrying out Best wishes for a safe that previous case law has estab- vessel inspections. Regulations lished that occupational health were brought in 1995 after nearly and prosperous year in 2009 and safety relates primarily to 20 years in which there were no labour relations, which fall under inspections and more than 100 provincial jurisdiction, even in the fishermen lost their lives. fishing industry. He also ruled that WorkSafeBC also stepped up both Mersey Seafoods and its ves- its inspections on vessel stability sel, the Mersey Venture, were in 2004 after the investigation into provincial undertakings and the tragic capsizing of the Cap therefore covered by relevant Rouge. That inspection program provincial legislation. prompting some pushback from He emphasized that seafarers fishing companies and vessel own- and other marine workers who are ers whose boats were cited for not in federal jurisdiction are already meeting standards. covered under the safety provi- Vessel stability, as well as the sions of two different pieces of determination of who has juris- legislation — the Canada diction over stability standards Shipping Act 2001 and the occu- and inspections are likely to be key pational health and safety stan- issues when the current challenge dards of the Canada Labour Code does come back to court. A Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all our friends and customers small jobs welcome 1870 Harbour Road, North Vancouver, BC V7H 1A1 (At the foot of Riverside Drive, east of the Second Narrows Bridge) TEL: 604-929-2365 • FAX: 604-929-5329 2115 Commissioner Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 1A6 e-mail: [email protected] • web: www.alliedship.com Tel: 604-255-6271 Fax: 604-255-3120 Kernal Manhas, Versacold Group e-mail: [email protected] UFAWU 50TH ANNIVERSARY THE FISHERMAN, DECEMBER 2008 FISHERIES 3 Area C urges no on quota fisheries Letter points to quota lease fee 900 fish quota. The lease fee cut quota fishery was only able to “The Area C harvest commit- deeply into crew shares. achieve its allocation because tee along with the Northern imposed on seines last summer In a series of spreadsheets ana- DFO bent its own rules and Native Fishing Corporation, the lyzing the effect of the lease fee, allowed quota shortfalls from one Native Brotherhood and the embers of the tion fishery project for your fleet UFAWU-CAW northern repre- week to be transferred to the next UFAWU-CAW have been work- Area C Harvest for 2009?” The Area C ballot sentative Joy Thorkelson estimat- week. ing to develop an alternative to Committee are poses the questions for Skeena ed that the share going to the crew The Area C harvest committee ITQs,’ it states. “We are working M calling on fisher- River sockeye, Skeena pinks and for fish subject to the lease fee letter urges fishermen not to on ways to allow people who want men to vote No on a coastwide “other fisheries” but the fisheries- could be as low as $0.16 a pound, throw their ballots away but to use out to ret ire with dignity and fish- ballot being sent out by DFO, named are different for each har- despite an initial sockeye price of the opportunity to vote No to the ermen who want to stay fishing to polling them on whether they vest area. $1.10 a pound. demonstration fisheries. be able to make a good living.” want quota demonstration fish- DFO has already sparked con- “There was no new expense for eries in their harvest area. troversy with the proposed ballot the companies, but they were In a letter directed to Area C since it will be polling fishermen passing on make-believe expenses gillnetters, harvest committee on demonstration fisheries based to fishermen and cutting their members told fishermen: on individual vessel quotas— now wages in half,” she said. Victoria Marine Electric “Transferable quotas will not get called “share-based fisheries” by The lease fee sparked protests, you a fish more or a cent more. the department — even before the with the seine fleet opting to SITEX • KOBELT • FURUNO “Give us a chance to make our fall consultations on the issue have attend meetings rather than fish, SIMRAD • STANDARD • JRC fishery work without packing any been completed. despite there being an opening. ELECTRONICS SALES & SERVICE more costs on to the fishery,” the It has also been tacked on to In response, the companies ini- 31 Erie St., Victoria, BC V8V 1P8 letter stated. “Please vote No to the salmon area harvest commit- tially cut the lease fee to 35 per Tel: 250-383-9731 Fax: 250-382-6153 ITQs.” tee election process, in which fish- cent and then backtracked, elimi- A division of Atlantic Electronics Ltd. It was signed by Area C ermen coastwide get a list of can- nating it completely. But at the Harvest Committee members didates in their harvest area from same time, they cut the initial Richard Azak, Henry Clifton, which to elect their harvest com- price of sockeye from $1.50 a Season’s Greetings Mabel Mazurek, Richard Omori, mittee. pound to $1.10 — underlining the Kim Olsen, Don Roberts, Adding even more fuel to the point that quota fisheries won’t to all our customers William Starr and Joy controversy is the experience in bring higher prices.