Times Colonist (Victoria)
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Page: C6
Section: Sports
Byline: D.C. Reid
Column: On Fishing
Source: Times Colonist

Susan Boyd: Ninty-seven per cent of Canadians are concerned about protecting Canada's natural resources, particularly fisheries. Our new Union of Environment Workers -- 5,700 members at Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans and Natural Resources -- aims to do something about it. Visit: ourfish.ca to send a complaint to Stephen Harper, Prime Minister.

Answer: After all the decades of public citizens complaining, our civil servants in the departments that matter have the fortitude to stand up and tell the government they are doing a shabby job of stewarding our fish on our behalf. The 360 Cowichan spring return is, as the government likes to say: egregious [means shocking, for regular folk]. More on this next year.

Do note that the recreational creel survey budget was reduced in the past two years and your group should specifically mention that problem, halved from about $750,000. Hatchery budgets, in the $21 million range, have been nickelled and dimed to death for a decade. Our money is needed to save our fish.

The federal government also has to recognize that the value of a salmon is about $60 when taken by a sport tourist, compared with about $10 per commercial fish. With sport and tourism taking three- to 15-per cent of the fish, it's simple math to come to the conclusion that we can both reduce the overall catch and have higher economic impact concentrating on the higher-value sport fish.

And the really big issue has and will always be: habitat. The feds have massively under-funded this most important place to spend our tax dollars

Miramichi Leader, Friday, December 14, 2007
Page: A7, Section: Opinion

Nearly all Canadians (97 per cent) are concerned about protecting Canada's natural resources, including fisheries, and Canadians clearly give that concern priority over two issues at the forefront of the federal government's agenda - protecting Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic and maintaining Canadian ownership of large corporations. Moreover, the majority of Canadians say responsibility for the protection of the fisheries belongs to the federal government and that the government should provide more funding to ensure sustainability of this resource.

These findings were part of a recent Leger Marketing survey of Canadians conducted on behalf of the Union of Environment Workers (UEW). The survey results were released on World Fisheries Day to mark the launch of a campaign calling on the federal government to put more money into the conservation of Canadian fisheries.

This is obviously an issue important to Canadians, and yet those on the front lines with Fisheries and Oceans don't have the resources to protect and rebuild the stocks. We will not only lose a key economic sector and part of our heritage, but when you remove an activity as basic to the Canadian way of life as going fishing, there will be tremendous impact on quality of life.

The public opinion research also showed Canadians feel the main reason fisheries are important is their contribution to Canada's economic well-being. Despite acknowledging the importance of the fisheries to Canada, the majority of Canadians see the fishing industry and fisheries as a declining industry.

We are hoping this issue finally captures the prime minister's interest and he decides to revisit funding for the protection of Canada's fisheries. Without adequate funding, we may not have fish in our oceans and lakes in 50 years.

As part of its campaign, the UEW is calling on Canadians to visit www. ourfish.ca where visitors can send an electronic post card to Prime Minister Harper with a message urging his government to provide the necessary funding to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to ensure the protection of Canada's fisheries.

The Union of Environment Workers represents approximately 5,700 members at Environment Canada, Fisheries & Oceans and Natural Resources.

The Daily News (Prince Rupert)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Page: 3
Section: Local News
Byline: Kris Schumacher
Source: The Daily News

With yesterday being World Fisheries Day, many Canadians may have been wondering what there was to celebrate in the country.

Fish stocks have continued to collapse on both coasts, and there has been a great deal of concern from coastal communities and all sectors of the fishing industry that better government management practices are needed immediately in order to avoid complete disaster.

It will therefore come as good news to residents of Prince Rupert and other fishing communities that the rest of Canadians seems to feel the same way about our fisheries. On Wednesday, the Union of Environment Workers (UEW) released a recent survey that shows nine in 10 Canadians feel our fisheries are important as a natural resource.

The survey found that 97 per cent of Canadians are concerned about protecting Canada's natural resources, including fisheries. Those surveyed also clearly give natural resources priority over two other issues -- Canada's Arctic sovereignty and Canadian ownership of large corporations. The results of the survey mark the launch of the UEW's campaign calling on the federal government to put more money and resources into the monitoring, enforcement and conservation of Canadian fisheries.

"This is obviously an issue important to Canadians, and yet those on the frontlines with Fisheries and Oceans [Canada] don't have the resources to protect and rebuild the stocks," said William Pynn, UEW national president. "We will not only lose a key economic sector and part of our heritage, but you remove an activity as basic to the Canadian way of life as going fishing, there will be tremendous impact on quality of life."

Also interesting is that 82 per cent of Canadians believe that the government should provide more funding to protect the sustainability of Canadian Fisheries, and the majority of Canadians believe it is the responsibility of the federal government to protect fisheries as a natural resource.

"Hopefully, it will be a strong message, and hopefully the prime minister will listen to it, but I don't think that message has got to Ottawa yet," said Nick Humphreys, UEW regional vice president for B.C./Yukon. "We're asking people to contact their MPs, either personally or through our webpage at www.ourfish.ca, and hopefully that contact with politicians will make the government aware that it must invest in Canadian fisheries and give us the proper resources to manage them."

The UEW represents approximately 5,700 members at Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans and Natural Resources. From their website www.ourfish.ca, visitors can send an electronic post card to Prime Minister Harper with a message urging his government to provide necessary funding to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to ensure the protection of Canada's fisheries, as well as view the public opinion research results in detail.

The Leger Marketing survey was conducted with 1,500 adult Canadians between Oct. 2 and Oct. 7, and results are considered to be accurate within +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

NEWS RELEASE

Nearly All Canadians Concerned about State of Fisheries in Canada

Union of Environment Workers Calls on Federal Government to Put More Money into Fisheries Protection and Enhancement