rfmcdonald: (Default)
rfmcdonald ([personal profile] rfmcdonald) wrote2010-02-18 05:11 pm

[LINK] "Canada closes ports to Faroe Islands, Greenland for refusing NAFO shrimp quotas"

Good. Trying to induce these two autonomous nations to improve their records themselves might have been overly generous; doing our best to marginalize these fisheries is the least that a Canadian government concerned about not deterraforming the oceans surrounding us can do.

Canada is closing its ports to fishing boats from the Faroe Islands and Greenland because of their refusal to accept international shrimp quotas, Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced Sunday.

The ban takes effect Monday.

"We have acted in good faith for several years to try to resolve this issue, to no avail," Shea said in a statement.

"It has become clear to Canada that attempts to come to a multilateral agreement ... are at an impasse."

The Danish territories have unilaterally set a quota of 3,101 tonnes, almost 10 times greater than the quota set by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization for international waters about 400 kilometres east of Newfoundland and Labrador.

[. . .]

The Danish territories have registered formal objections with NAFO over their 334-tonne limit.

Liberal fisheries critic Gerry Byrne said Canada had closed its ports to both territories before and he couldn't understand why they were being reopened.

"There is no actual indication or evidence that suggested they had changed their behaviour or ever intended to change their behaviour," the Newfoundland MP said in an interview.

"The government can't cite one piece of evidence that supports the ... merit of lifting the ban."

A federal official said Canada's ports were re-opened as a sign of good faith, an incentive to find resolution to a long-standing problem.

As for Byrne's criticism, Shea suggested he was off the mark.

"Before NAFO reform, Gerry Byrne was supportive of the status quo," she said.

"That status quo included over-fishing, misreporting, high-grading and disregard for environmental responsibility. Our government led the charge to implement a management regime that is science-based and reflects the rule of law."

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