Too foolish to talk about -
It seems to me that trouble is developing in the fishery again. Now this is one place in the working world where the worst comes before the good. Why? Because all groups involved are out for that almighty dollar. Profit. Now that is the name of the game. Whatever way a dollar can be made, that is the direction they will go.
The three main players in this are the fishermen, fish plant operators and consumers. The fishermen can't fish if they are not making enough to buy fuel, pay of their fishing loan and still have some to live on. The fish plant operators need enough to pay a large number of employees, the upkeep of the building and some left over for themselves. The consumer needs a low-priced product, otherwise they are not buying.
I used to be a fisherman. Now I'm out of it. But out or not, I'm still proud of the special breed of people in the outport. It's like that old saying, ""better than the best, better than all the rest.""
Do any of you young fishermen know what Churchill said during the war? He said, and I'll repeat, ""Where are the Newfoundlanders, the best small boatmen in the world.""
Churchill was a darn good man.
But never yet have I heard a Prime Minister of Canada, saying something good about a Newfie. And neither did I ever hear a Premier. Joey Smallwood had resettlement on his mind. And every premier from Joey up to Premier Williams were sick in the head. They all have the Sin City on their minds.
All except Beaton Tulk. That man was a good man and loved the outports. That's why he never lasted long in the government.
Now then, let's get back to the fishery. Regardless of what the Federal Fools think and regardless of what goes through the mind of the Confederation Rats, the fishery is and always will be the backbone of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We are living in a changing time. When I was a boy, we only had to get a bit of oil for the lamps. The food we ate came from the sea or the land. Our forefathers only had to get some flour for bread, and that was done by the barter system. I don't know for sure but it could have been a barrel of flour for a thousand pound of cod.
Today's cost of living is way over our heads. Instead of a bit of oil for the lamp, we have a hydro bill that costs two arms and four legs. And I would say, the old Indian smoke signals work a lot cheaper than the phones. If you plan on using that cell phone when courting someone, make your love talk short and to the point.
The cable TV is something we pay for, but we don't get any programs. I mean good programs. Except for the Waltons, and Snook, there is not another bloody thing on there worth looking at. Now, we do have one half decent thing in our high price life - the Internet
The Internet is a blessing. It doesn't cost very much. You can chat with people all over the world and it doesn't cost that much. It is a blessing for the young ones who are looking for a woman, or a woman looking for a man. I have one niece out in Wales, one out in Ontario, and a cousin down in Texas, and on times, I chat with a nephew somewhere out near Africa. Now, my niece out in Wales and the one in Ontario found their men on the Internet. I don't know what size mesh they used, but it work. And I get to chat with all of them in the same day.
Gas costs a small fortune. And when you have a car or truck, you have something that siphons your money away. The fishing vessels operate on a wing, GPS, and a prayer while fishing. They use the GPS to find their gear, and pray to God that they will come up full. If the pots or nets are not full, the operation is going to come to a standstill.
The fishery, as I write this, is to a standstill. The two sides had all winter to work out a plan for this year. But no, they never had the intelligence to work out a plan. And because they are too stupid to work out a plan, the fishery is in a mess.
Maybe the government is getting their wish. The fishery could be ended, but that doesn't mean it is finished.
info@ganderbeacon.ca
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