'We're solution-finders': Clearwater boss takes measured stance on surf clam controversy
His displeasure with the federal government is clear, but the normally outspoken co-founder of Clearwater Fine Foods says he's focused on finding solutions to a situation that saw 25 per cent of a valuable surf clam quota stripped from his company.
The federal decision will mean less production for the Halifax-based company's processing plant in Grand Bank, N.L., one of the few year-round seafood plants in Atlantic Canada, and less fishing activity for the three vessels that harvest the quota.
But John Risley is not ready to drop the gloves with Ottawa, instead signalling that backroom talks are underway.
"We're solution-finders," Risley told CBC News during a visit to St. John's on Thursday.
When asked what that solution might entail, Risley replied, "I'm not going to speculate on that. You don't negotiate those kinds of things in public."
DFO says changes are part of reconciliation
In February, Ottawa took 25 per cent — 9,600 tonnes, worth an estimated $29 million — of Clearwater's long-held surf clam monopoly and awarded it to the Five Nations Clam Corporation, a consortium of First Nations and its industry partner, Premium Seafoods of Arichat, N.S., sparking outrage in Grand Bank.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the decision on quotas was part of Ottawa's efforts to reconcile with Canada's Indigenous groups and create jobs in Indigenous communities.
Risley is not opposed to the federal government's attempts at reconciliation, but is not pleased with the effect it's having on his company, or the people who work at the Grand Bank plant and crew the fishing vessels.
"I just don't think that you achieve reconciliation by taking something away from someone in an involuntary manner and giving it to someone else," he said.
"This isn't going to put us out of business. It's not something we would wish on us or frankly, anyone else."
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