Coalition of fishers releases press release to counter disinformation by RCMP. Fishermen who engaged in peaceful direct action against large corporately-owned seiners unloading in Souris, Prince Edward Island, last week have issued a rebuff of spurious police accusations.

Coalition of fishers releases press release to counter disinformation by RCMP.
Fishermen who engaged in peaceful direct action against large corporately-owned seiners unloading in Souris, Prince Edward Island, last week have issued a rebuff of spurious police accusations. Remaining at the top of the largely supportive PEI newsmedia coverage over the weekend, the Coalition of Island Fishing Families issued a Press Release on Sunday evening indicating their disappointment with the falsehoods, prevarications, distortions and outright lies issued by the RCMP in a press conference on Friday. Police had alleged that fishers had threatened members of local businesses who supplied goods to RCMP officers. The RCMP spokesperson cited no evidence of such claims.

About 100 fishermen and women blockaded the unloading of five 100ft. seiner vessels numerous times last week. Most of these seiners are owned by the Newfoundland-based multinational Barry Group, an industrial fishing and processing corporation. These vessels had been fishing along the inshore waters near Souris harbour for some time, raising fears of many residents of eventual depletion of Herring stocks, upon which much of the community depends upon for its livelihood. The resulting non-violent sit-down blockade along the harbour was met by a 100 member RCMP tactical squad, which constituted the biggest show of force against civilians in PEI's history. Newspapers the next day contained photos depicting police officers in full riot gear armed with batons, tear-gas, rubber bullets, and NINE-MILLIMETER ASSAULT RIFLES, lining up in front of unarmed men and women. There were 14 arrests as the police squad broke up the first blockade along the wharf, which then re-grouped around six empty transport trucks parked at a local school, preventing these trucks from unloading the seiners any further.

Two men sustained facial injuries from their arrests. One of these men, Justin Mackinnon, a man in his sixties, had his glasses broken as his face was smashed into the pavement by RCMP officers. If convicted, all of these arrestees will likely face fines. The fishermen of Souris, whose numbers total no more than 300 have been lobbying the Federal Department of Fishing Authority for close to 3 years arguing that seiners, such as those blockaded last week, are environmental monsters.

According to Jack McAndrew, media representative for the Coalition, these 100ft vessels are often worth around $1,000,000 each. "These big vessels need a big catch of fish in order to pay for themselves," noted McAndrew. He added that these seiners can net in one catch what individual 40ft vessels (commonly used by Souris inshore fishers) net in 150 catches. This is approximately as much as an inshore vessel can net in one entire season.

In the past few years, these seiners have begun encroaching upon the inshore waters traditionally fished by residents of Souris, taking advantage of an outdated federal boundary, brought about partly by a mistranslation between English and French maps, separating inshore and offshore waters. The seiners currently account for 23% of PEI's inshore herring quota, while the Souris fishers account for 16%. Although local politicians, including PEI fisheries minister Kevin MacAdam, have begun to back the Coalition in their claims, DFO minister Robert Thibault remains unwavering. What has become clear is that this "fishing dispute" is looking an awful lot like a dispute between a small fishing community and a large industrial multi-national fishing enterprise, which has managed to hide behind Federal bureaucracy and, more recently, state repression.

According to a press release issued by the Coalition of Island Fishing Families, many local businesses have begun rallying around the fishers, refusing to sell food orders destined for the consumption of RCMP officers. The fishers have also received the backing and support of PEI's native fishers as well as inshore fishers from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Magdeleine Islands.

According to CBC reports, after a meeting with the PEI Minister of Fisheries on Monday, the fishermen have agreed to cease all blockades in favour of further negotiations with the DFO regarding Seiner use of the port of Souris. The Department of Fisheries will also pay help pay for a national "marketing campaign" detailing the depletion of fish stocks which result from inshore seiner fishing. Non-civilly disobedient protest will occur if the seiners do return to Souris harbour.