Editorial on DFO by the Courier-Islander

Interesting editorial from the Courier-Islander regarding DFO:http://www.canada.com/shores+malfeasance/5869518/story.html
We tend to agree with the writer, this is a good time to shake up DFO completely. This line is classic: The ministry has become nothing but a laughing stock, a stand up comedian on the world stage of fisheries management.

The shores of malfeasance

Editorial, Courier-Islander

Published: Friday, December 16, 2011

One would wonder how the Department of Fisheries and Oceans could hand out layoff notices to 200 scientists at such a critical time. But, then again, it only seems natural. Natural in that DFO has long since been changed from a protector and nurturer of things oceanic, to a simply oligarchic political poison.
It has been run by the few at the top who know more about boot licking than fisheries. The chosen few have made decisions not on common sense, but on puerile and punitive whims. The ministry has become nothing but a laughing stock, a stand up comedian on the world stage of fisheries management.
One of the most vital commissions in the history of west coast fisheries is going to be wrapping up soon and thereafter produce a report that won't say everything is fine. Everyone knows it will be harsh, it will point fingers and, hopefully, give some direction to solve this sorry saga. And a DFO with 200 fewer scientists won't be able to handle it. Maybe, this will be DFO's escape clause.

But there is a solution, even without waiting to consider the Cohen commission's findings. Take the bottom 80 per cent of the employees of DFO and let them manage the place. Or better yet, give complete and total control of our west coast fisheries to the province.

Cutting 200 jobs for fisheries scientists is an easy thing to do if you live in Ottawa. Managing it properly isn't.
We need to follow the state of Alaska and take back decisions on our fisheries, the jobs it creates, the natural wealth it hands us and the better world it makes.
Alaskans don't listen to Washington when it comes to cleaning their fish. So why should we listen to Ottawa, a bureaucracy that is only interested in cutting out the heart and letting the carcass rot on the shores of malfeasance.
© Campbell River Courier-Islander 2011