Exact Air Island Air Service Suspended

The air delivery service between Mont-Joli and the Magdalen Islands will be suspended for the summer months starting on the 18th of June, 2009. The company Exact Air and the regional airport of Mont-Joli have decided on this decision because the service is used less at this time of the year.

In a daily flight, the number of passengers doesn’t cover the costs of the service. The direction of the airport stated that the link responded particularly to the business clientele and to certain institutional clients, whom are people who travel very little during the summer season.

The managers of the airport and of Exact Air wish to profit from this suspension of activities, to meet with the ministers, organizations and the businesses, who have shown interest in having this service put in place and in order to learn how to better respond to their needs.

Lobster Industry Crises: Financial Aid of Almost One and a Half Million Dollars

The Minister of Agriculture, Fishing and Food and the Minister responsible for the Regions of Chaudière-Appalaches and of the Centre-du-Québec and Deputy of Frontenac, M. Laurent Lessard, announced on June 9th, 2009 that a series of measures evaluated at almost one and a half million dollars is to be given in order to help the lobster fishing enterprises of Quebec. He is working in collaboration with the Deputy of Gaspe, Mr. Georges Mamelonet and the deputy of the Magdalen Islands, Mr. Germain Chevarie.

As well, the lobster fishermen can prevail on measures of transitory aide which will be in effect until March 31, 2009. The first measure is made up of an amount by the Minister, to be used to help with the interest on their loans. The second proposes to reimburse loans fof the fishermen profiting from government funding, in the form of a loan guarantee.

“It is well that the federal government had announced recently the funding of 10 million dollars for the commercialization and the promotion of lobster, this incentive will be in effect for the fishermen only for the year to come. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans must accept her responsibilities and restructure the fishery, as the industry of Quebec requested and the other fishermen of the Atlantic. It is necessary to increase the minimal regulation size of the lobster, support the restructuring of the industry and allow fishermen to benefit from the employment insurance. The other provinces must be inspired from the industry of Quebec, to increase the quality of lobster and improve the value of their fishing businesses. I’ll continue to follow very close to the situation of the lobster fishermen over the course of the season, in order to assure the appropriate support,” Mr. Lessard said precisely.

Elsewhere, the Minister Lessard will follow his representations to the federal government in order that this last request be put to work on concrete solutions for the support of the industry of Quebec.

“The objective is the sort of aide for the fishing businesses, which were struck by the world wide economic crises, so that they can follow their activities, which represent an essential part of the economic development of the maritime regions of Quebec,” indicated the deputies of the Magdalen Islands (Germain Chevarie) and of Gaspe (Georges Mamelonet).

“The Fishermen Association of the Magdalen Islands (APPIM) and the group of professional fishermen of the south of Gaspésie estimates that Ottawa will use the example of the government of Quebec, which is to help it's fishermen victims of this major crises. The delivery of this funding program will allow us to concentrate on our work on a second level of aid to help the Quebec lobster fishermen,” declared M. Leonard Poirier and Oneil Cloutier, who had been encouraged by the support of the Minister Laurent Lessard.

The Quebec lobster fishing industry is comprised of 550 fishing businesses which supports 1,400 persons and which contributes in an important manner to the creation where it maintains some 2,000 employment positions in factories in maritime Quebec.

I'm thinking that fishermen of Quebec and the Maritimes don't benefit from a systematic Cooperative, such as that of the Cap Dauphin in Grosse Ile.

The New Entry Island Ferry To Start This Week

The ferry , Ivan Quinn*, was constructed at the Maritime Méridien Shipyard in Matane, will soon be starting her service of a daily delivery between Entry Island and Grindstone Harbours, on the Magdalen Islands this week. The ultra modern ship had been constructed in eight months at a cost of seven million dollars.

The president of the ferry society of Quebec (STQ) Georges Farrah, highlighted that the ship had been constructed on measure for to respond to the needs of some one hundred residents of Entry Island.

The managers of the STQ ad met the citizens for this project. They had concluded that a ship adapted to their needs. As well, the Ivan Quinn will transport heating fuel to Entry Island and will transfer waste products to the truck on the central island.

Moreover, those isolated who want to do their grocery shopping in Grindstone will have access to a refrigerator and a freezer during the voyage.

*Mr. Ivan Quinn was a colourful person of Entry Island. He was a warm store owner and the mayor of the island for many years. Mr. Quinn had also been known for his talents as a musician and a singer. He was a composer of country ballads on Maritime themes.

Possible Rise In Lobster Outfit Charges

It seems the Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Gail Shea, agrees to actual study of the possibility to raise certain charges that exist for the lobster fishers and put a rationalization plan in place.

Last Thursday, Mrs. Shea was hard pressed to try avoid of questions from the part of the deputies of the opposition in the Chamber of Commons, in Ottawa. The liberal critique in the matter of fisheries, Gerry Byrne, estimates that certain fishermen will be relieved to see a raise the charges they can demand for their permits.

Other people who intervene suggest that the number of boats be reduced, for example by 25% to 30% in the Northumberland Strait, which separates Prince Edward Island from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The plan for the funding of 10 million dollars announced recently by the Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, to come to the aid of lobster transformers in the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec has received a half-hearted welcome on the part of the fishers.

Clam Digging Areas Closed

On the Magdalen Islands there are few species that people don't need to have a permit to fish. Clam digging is one of those species. All you need is a digging tool and a bucket to carry the clams ashore. However, as in years past, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have closed certain areas of the lagoons to clam fishers because the clams are contaminated with bacteria.

The reason for the pollution is not what we normally consider as pollutants. The problem is nature itself. There are certain areas of the lagoon where seal love to bask in the sun during the four seasons. Their waste products are polluting the areas where they tend to congregate.

The areas have probably always been polluted since the seal have always been in those areas. Most like there are no clams in the areas since the seal would eat them, so no human has become ill in the past from consuming these clams. However, the DFO sees fit to assure the public that the clams in these areas are unfit for consumption.

Areas Closed For Mollusks Harvest In the Clam Sector

Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the Quebec region, wishes to warn the population of the Magdalen Islands that the following clamming sectors are closed for the harvest of mollusks because of pollution and this in virtue of the ordinance mentioned thereafter and given in conformity with paragraph 3 (1) of the regulation on the consumption of contaminated fish:

Ordinance No.: QSN-416

House Harbour Lagoon, north-east sector, from the Narrows bridge (Detroit Bridge) for an approximate distance of 500 meters west.

Ordinance No.: QSN-417

Bassin Lagoon Brook, the brook of the Bassin lagoon and less that 150 meters along the water’s edge.

East of Pointe-aux-Loups, The foreshore and the waters of the large marsh, comprising between a point located to the south of the large marsh until a point located three kilometers east of Pointe-aux-Loups.

For more information on this subject you can call the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Grindstone at:

ILES-DE-LA-MADELEINE                                           418-986-2095