Thousands sign petition calling for longer N.L. recreational food fishery

A petition calling for a much longer recreational food fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador has collected more than 2,200 signatures.

The tour operator who started it has been pushing for changes to the food fishery for about a decade. Now he's hoping about 5,000 people will support his proposals.

"Speak up and be heard and hopefully we'll get the federal minister to decide on giving us back some freedom to be able to retain some fish in our waters," Graham Wood, owner of Mussel Bed Boat Tours, told CBC News.

Last year there were 39 recreational food fishery days. The petition calls for that to more than double by allowing five fish a day, every day, from July 1 to Oct. 1.

"We're not trying to destroy the stock. All we want is for people to be able to get their fish and retain an amount of fish for their families," said Wood.

WATCH | To extend or not to extend the recreational food fishery: 

A longer recreational food fishery? Here are two opposing views

10 months ago

Duration 1:50

Tourism operator Graham Wood started a petition to expand the recreational food fishery. He says limiting it to mainly weekends hurts business. But Greg Pretty, president of Fish Food & Allied Workers union, says the food fishery isn’t being monitored, which is necessary before extending the season.

The petition also proposes licensed tour operators be allowed to keep two fish per tourist, per day, and calls on the fisheries minister to announce season dates by May 1 so tour operators, tourists and residents have time to plan their summers.

The leaders of the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union won't be signing the petition. They fear many people taking part in the annual recreational fishery are already ignoring regulations by keeping big fish and throwing back the small ones. They also say some people are taking more than their five-fish-per-day limit.

"What's going on right now is just a free-for-all," said FFAW president Greg Pretty.

Pretty said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans needs to get the recreational fishery under control before it thinks about expanding it.

"You can't have an unregulated fishery and call it something else. We know what's going on now, everybody knows what's going on, but nobody wants to do anything about it. So what we are saying to DFO is: start monitoring, start tracking those removals and we can have a better system than we have now," he said.

The opportunity to sign the petition closes at the end of February.

The MP for Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame, Clifford Small, is expected to present the petition in the federal House of Commons.

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