Fishers’ Voting Results Announced

Results of a vote to determine whether fishers in Cape Breton and along the Gulf of St. Lawrence want to belong to an accredited fishing organization were announced today by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Fishers in Region 1 -- from the New Brunwick border, along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and up the western shore of Cape Breton to the Inverness-Victoria county line -- voted in favour of being represented by an accredited fishers’s organization.

Fishers in Region 2 -- from the Inverness-Victoria line, down Cape Breton’s eastern shore and along the Strait of Canso to the Canso Causeway, failed to meet the 60 per cent participation requirement.

All bona fide or core fishers in the two regions voted on whether they wanted to be represented by an accredited fishing organization of their choice, as defined under the Fisheries Organizations Support Act of 1996.

The vote was initiated by fishing organizations in the two regions, looking at whether accreditation under the act would give them stronger representation when dealing with important issues. Fishers had to decide whether they wanted to pay mandatory dues to an accredited organization of their choice in their region. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries conducted the vote.

Region 1 had a two-thirds majority vote in favour of mandatory dues. The next course of action will be a call for organizations who can meet the criteria for accreditation under the Act in this region.

Region 2 did not meet the 60 per cent and therefore will not be subject to requirements under the Fisheries Organizations Support Act.

An initial vote under this legislation was held in 1997, when both regions failed to achieve a 60 per cent voter participation rate.