Ledge back where it belongs
A recent announcement that the long-running MacLeod’s Ledge dispute will soon be resolved emphasizes two points: the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly and, such issues can be resolved when there’s political will to make it happen.
MacLeod’s Ledge is a rich fishing ground just off the tip of North Cape. Western P.E.I. fishermen have been fishing for ground fish, herring, tuna and lobster there ever since William MacLeod discovered it nearly 90 years ago. Because it is a high spot in the ocean, fish and fishers tend to congregate there. It’s where the bulk of Prince Edward Island’s tuna quota was captured in just two days last October.
The dispute over who had access to MacLeod’s Ledge related to the lobster fishery only. In 1985 someone in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans redrew the boundary lines for the lobster fishing areas. The pencil slipped very close to Prince Edward Island’s northwestern tip, giving lobster fishing rights on the ledge to fishers from the Magdalen Islands. It made absolutely no sense. The ledge was too far away to be of any use to Magdalen Islands fishers, but very accessible to P.E.I. boats.
Ironically, Island boats weren’t even aware of the boundary change until more than a decade later when DFO ordered them out of the Magdalen Islands’ zone.
Even though the boundary mistake was soon realized, it has taken until now for all of the regulatory hoops to be cleared so that the ledge could be officially returned to P.E.I. fishers.
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced last week the ledge will be officially returned next week. That’s where the political will comes into play. The P.E.I. fishers who were affected by the slip of the pencil, and who have had to apply for a variation order every year to fish on the ledge, are all constituents of Shea’s. They are the fishers with a history of fishing on the ledge.
The federal minister made it a mission of hers to resolve the ledge issue and she has assured LFA 24 lobster fishers it will be back in their hands by February.
DFO is often criticized for taking too long in responding to requests from the fishing industry. Decisions made by the department have to take into consideration the greater good.
The MacLeod’s Ledge issue just goes to show it’s best to do things right the first time. Here is an example where it should have exercised a carpenter’s rule of thumb: measure twice, cut once.
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