Print This Page#02565 Print This Page
As I sit here tonight lookin' down the harbour,
I can see the fishin' boats tied to the pier;
And the fishermen are all home on the package,
And John Crosbie's now retired and he don't care.
Now, Brian Tobin said we couldn't catch a codfish,
No, we're not allowed to get one for the pot;
What a laugh it must be for the Europeans,
Who are on the Grand Banks cleanin' up the lot.
It wasn't us who destroyed all the codfish,
Fishery Products and NAPSEA must take some blame;
And the foreigners are all still out there fishin',
While us Newfies sit home bearin' all the blame.
Now the bureaucrats are startin' to awaken,
And Johnny Efford's gonna help them realize;
In the meantime we'll be out there on the water,
Tryin' to catch a load of underutilized.
What a shame they had to call the moratorium,
When the fishermen were in a real tight squeeze;
Brian Tobin had announced the new TAGS package,
With a Green plan how he'd have us plantin' trees.
It wasn't us who destroyed all the codfish,
Fishery Products and Nat Sea must take some blame;
And the foreigners are all still out there fishin',
While us Newfies sit home bearin' all the blame.
On July 2, 1992, The Great Northern Cod Fishery, the first of 14 East Coast Ground Fisheries was closed to commercial harvest. A five centuries-old tradition had come to an abrupt and devastating halt. Thousands of people were thrown out of work. Coastal communities, and the people depending on these resources for their livelihood, were numb from shock. Throughout the years of the moratorium, the fishery became more shellfish dependent, communities got smaller, the landscape of the province was irrevocably altered, and fisheries management was never looked upon in the same way. The road back, the road to rebuilding fish stocks, has been a slow and oftentimes frustrating task.From Memorial University Libraries:
