Heading the way of the Dodo??????????????

This may sound morbid and negative, but how do you put a happy face goody two shoes spin on it, please let me know if you can.

Tomorrow is the last day the Nain fish plant will accept fish [char] from fishers. Only two fishers have been bringing fish in the last few days, down from about a dozen at the height.
A small amount of scallop was processed back in July before the scallop fishers decided the price was not high enough and hightailed it back south.

All round I would say that this year is the worst [as in product landed and processed] year the Nain plant has experienced in the 27 years I have been here.

The hardest hit are the plant workers, many who’s only income is the summer work supplemented by EI or social programs. Not being able to work this summer will affect the EI, so some could be in for a bleak winter.

All in all a sad bleak empty scene at the dock all summer.

The plant has gone through many changes both in product landed, processing and structural since my first arrival back in 1978.The building was a ram shackle hodge podge of additions. Those days the char and salmon was mostly cleaned, split and salted.

Back then many families had trap boats, in late July early August the town half emptied with people going out to there traditional fishing berths, some outside of Nain, many north as fare as Okak Bay and a few further north than that.
The government run [back then] plant would supply a collector boat. This vessel was the life line to the remote fishing camps taking supplies on its outward run and bringing the catch pack to the plant on return.

The old plant was replaced with a larger more modern building. Blast freezers were installed. Then came the instillation of a smoke house, value added helped with employment increases. Flash frozen fillets also help in this regard.
A holding/weighing building was erected on the other side of the wharf, many additions, enlargements, improvements to the dock has taken place over the years also.

For a few years Turbot and Grenadier were landed and cleaned and frozen then shipped out.

That was also the time frame of a big protest at the dock. A collector boat from down south was coming in to the dock and off loading the catch to a larger vessel that took the Turbot south for processing. With people here clamoring for some work a protest was organized, most of the town was at or on the dock with signs and and loud voices.
They blockaded the collector boat preventing the crew from disembarking or the boat leaving. After some protracted negotiations it was agreed that the fish would be partly processed here.

After a few years memories faded and a way was found to send the Turbot south for processing.

Then the scallop fishery took off, for a few years there were up to a dozen small scallop draggers here at any one time. This fluctuated for a few years until it leveled out at about 4 to 6 boats.
These were the best years for plant workers, hard work standing up and shucking all day, but it was much needed work for many.

During all this the government wanted out of the plant, so a deal was struck with the Torngat Fish Producers Co Op to take over the operation.
It has been difficult years, as it has been in all sections of the fishing industry.
An influx of farmed fish has not helped matters in the char and salmon fishery. Now there seems to be a glut of scallops from overseas in the markets.

It would be a big blow if the Plant has to close, another step backward in the senseless march towards……………. What?