Lobster bailout fails fishermen

Douglas Gibbons is just one fisherman on the Northern Peninsula who fails to meet the criteria for the federal government's lobster assistance program.

In 2008, the St. Barbe man earned roughly $9,400 fishing lobster; in 2009, he earned $5,200 - a loss of 44 per cent of his income.

To qualify for aid, harvesters must have lobster as 50 per cent or more of their fishing income, and they had to have lost 25 per cent or more in income this year compared to 2008. The program also requires harvesters have a minimum fishing income of $2,500 in 2009 and a maximum income of $50,000.

Mr. Gibbons, who has been fishing lobster for nearly 35 years, failed to qualify because his pelaigics brought his 2009 income past $9,400.

The criteria should be based on lost income rather than income made, he pointed out.

"I fish full time, six months out of the year, maybe more, then I spend about four months in the shed; I didn't qualify because I caught more in my pelaigics than I caught in my lobster," said Mr. Gibbons, who operates a 26-foot fibreglass open boat.

"But if I went lobster fishing, and turned around after I got my 25 per cent, after a few days said, 'Well b'y, I'm going to pull this ashore and I'll take off and go to Alberta,' when I came back I could have realized I could have applied and got my lobster funding, because money you made outside the fishery had no bearings on it."

He ventured that he wasn't alone.

From St. Barbe to Forresters Point few qualified, he said.

"Two per cent out of the 100 qualified. The rest of us don't even qualify. For a lot of us b'y, we were fully depending on that bit of money. No two ways about that. What do you do? You got no choice than to do without it if it's not going to come. For us, for getting ready for next year's fishery was a part of it."

The past summer lobster fishermen went on strike for four days to get a subsidy in price, which dropped roughly $2 after 2008.

"How could you ever put something together to help someone but you were going to base it on 2008," Mr. Gibbons said. "We were based on the 2008 fishery - and in 2009 we had the problem," he added, laughing in disbelief. "It's a much needed program but everybody deserves to get something."

Mr. Gibbons added, "We're not playing with this, this is not a game for us, this is fishing."