Province needs an Atlantic Accord on the fishery, says Peckford

ST. JOHN'S - Brian Peckford laments the state of the province's fishery - the lack of a joint fisheries management regime and the imminent breakup of FPI Ltd.

He says the province hasn't been diligent in trying to gain a bigger say in running the fishery in the decades he pushed for it in the 1980s.

"I really think that we've really dropped the ball on the whole fishery issue in Newfoundland. I really, really do," he said in a recent interview.

"I think we have not, as a province, argued relentlessly and weekly pursued a fisheries strategy which would allow us to have ... an Atlantic Accord on the fishery.

"Because what we did on the Atlantic Accord was we put the jurisdiction away, even though we lost in court. We got it back through the back door."

The courts ruled offshore oil and gas resources belonged to the federal government, but the 1985 Atlantic Accord shared management of the resource and made the province the main beneficiary.

Peckford, who was Newfoundland premier for 10 years until 1989, now lives in British Columbia.

"I've always sort of lamented the fact that we weren't successful constitutionally, which is quite understandable because there were so many files on the go. It came very close.

"But, in the absence of constitutional change, it should be possible to get federal-provincial agreement ... between the coastal provinces and Ottawa about a new, shared management regime of the fishery."

Peckford admits strained relations between Newfoundland and Ottawa these days may not help that cause.

"The federal government would have absolutely no interest if the premier of Newfoundland or the minister of fisheries of Newfoundland ... made a presentation to the feds tomorrow on this, or even in the last two or three years.

"They would have been laughed out of the room and the document would have been, not thrown in the wastepaper basket, but torn up."

Peckford also says it's a mistake for the province to focus its efforts on the blossoming offshore oil and gas industry at the expense of everything else.

"Which is not to deny that you can't improve what you already have - no matter how good it is. But not at the expense of the fishery ... forestry and all the rest of it.

"We seem to have one mindset when it relates to the offshore and a ... less-than-stringent approach to all the other areas - even those that are under our jurisdiction."

As for FPI, Peckford says both the company and the provincial legislation governing it have been "eviscerated."

FPI's assets are being sold to Ocean Choice International and High Liner Foods for a combined $301.5 million.

The FPI Act, which limited share ownership in the company, will also be repealed by the Newfoundland government in future.

FPI was created by the federal and provincial governments in 1984 from the remnants of bankrupt fish companies.

Three years later, it became a publicly traded company and weathered the cod moratorium in the '90s under then-chairman and CEO Vic Young. (Young lost control of the company in May 2001 to dissident shareholders led by John Risley, Derrick Rowe and John Crosbie.)

"It wasn't a star on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but it wasn't a dud either," said Peckford.

"Given the social contract into which they were placed, they were doing exceedingly well, and I think it's very sad that its day is gone because I fought very hard for that legislation and for that company."