October 29, 2025 — The Newfoundland and Labrador Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) Inshore Council has unanimously condemned Canada’s use of marine protected areas (MPAs), refuges, national marine conservation areas, and other area restrictions that it says unfairly limit the fishing industry.
“We demand that Prime Minister Mark Carney, [Fisheries] Minister Joanne Thompson, and [Canadian Identity and Culture] Minister Steven Guilbeault immediately dismantle these baseless closures and abandon all plans for new ones. These policies are a deliberate betrayal of our fish harvesters, wrecking livelihoods while masquerading as conservation,” FFAW Vice President Jason Sullivan said in a release. “The federal government’s obsession with these closures is a disgrace, prioritizing hollow environmental optics over the survival of our communities.”