N.B. Liberal MP calls for loosened right whale protection measures to help fishermen

A northeast New Brunswick Liberal MP is joining the Maritime Fishermen's Union in calling for a better balance between protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales and allowing commercial fishing operations.

Acadie-Bathurst MP Serge Cormier criticized his government for extensive closures of fishing zones that he warned could result in «disastrous consequences» and economic losses of $25 million to $30 million.

«While we are trying to save an endangered species, these extreme measures are actually endangering our fishing industry and coastal communities,» Cormier said in a statement released Thursday.

«I can no longer defend my government on this issue. I stand with the fishermen, the lobster and crab industry, the factory owners and workers, and the community members.»

Cormier's comments come less than a week after Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced a temporary shutdown of part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to non-tended, fixed-gear fishing after the sighting of an entangled North Atlantic right whale.

The affected fishing zone, closed for 15 days, stretches across much of New Brunswick's Acadian Peninsula.

Earlier sightings of North Atlantic right whales have also resulted in impacts on the snow crab fishery.

While snow crab fishermen can relocate to another area, lobster fishermen are unable to move their traps.

Coastal communities 'at risk'

Cormier said the recent closure on the Acadian Peninsula affects between 200 and 250 fishermen, who have four days to get 60,000 traps out of the water with no other territory to relocate to.

In an interview with Radio-Canada on Sunday, he said entire communities will «suffer the consequences,» as dock workers are off the job, processing plants lose revenue and factory workers log