Jesus Christ, when are these poor bastards going to be able to earn a decent living, without having to choke on all the bullshit rules and taxes the government seems to like imposing onthem at will. $40 for a license to sell lobsters at the side of the road, eh? Is the government going to require all the farmers in the valley to have a license when they sell their corn asnd pumpkins at the side of the road on the Bedford Highway like they do every year (maybe they already do, but that would be news to me). How is charginbg these poor buggers $40 going to ensure the publics safety andput some kind of quality control on lobster sales? Keeping records…yeah right. It’s total and utter BULLSHIT to say that if you sell your lobsters from the side of the road, you need a forty dollar license, but if you sell it off your boat at the wharf, your exempt. That makes no fucking sense at all. I for one personally made great use of the fact that they were selling lobster in the parking lot around the corner from my house, and as afr as quality control, as long as the little bastards are still moving when they put them in the bag, I’m happy! If there going to apply a bullshit law, it should be applied to all, not just a few. fact of the matter is, it shouldn’t be on the books at all. FUCK OFF GOVERNMENT and stop keeping the fisherman down!!
—Me, Myself, and I
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2009.
I agree 100%. It’s utter bullshit and the government knows it. This is a vague idea, but perhaps it’s to help protect buisnesses against competition? Because freshly caught lobster is fricken irresistible.
it is to protect us, the consumers from being sold tainted seafood (the stuff can kill you), and to ensure that we are sold lobster that hasnt gone bad yet. forty bucks is not that much, its like what, the price of 6-8 lobsters at the prices the fishermen sell them from the trucks? when i first heard about it, i was outraged as well, but the price, and the fact that the vendors will be monitored by the government to avoid sale of tainted/spoiled to the consumers.
I agree k. What’s $40 really? They’re still going to make way more profit selling their product on the side of the road than the grocery stores were giving them. Why shouldn’t they be taxed and monitored just like everbody else?
K, if it’s LIVE lobster, you’re not going to be eating tainted seafood. Buying it isn’t rocket science. It’s a bullshit money grabbing move.
I suppose that’s justifiable, sorry OP.
I thought you’d come around Dino.
SwampDonkey: actually, depending on what the lobster eats when it is feeding, its flesh can be deadly poisonous to humans.
link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralytic_she…
It’s a cash grab plain and simple. Fees for things like licenses and what have you are all just cash grabs. Saying this will protect consumers is like saying that a person driving with a license is going to be a better driver than a person without a license. It’s a false sense of manufactured security. In this province, there is a fee for everything. It’s wrong, we all know it, and there is nothing we can do about it.
I suppose the good thing even after paying the blackmail fee, they’ll still make more than what the supermarkets offer them.
K, if you read the “article” a bit closer it says “primarily associated with bivalve molluscs (such as mussels, clams, oysters and scallops)”, not lobsters. Get the facts straight before you post anything
Would you eat in a restaurant that buys its seafood (or any other for that matter) on the side of the road?
I don’t have a problem with them being taxed like the rest of us are ( to death!!! ). I do object to this being passed off under the guise of it having anything to do with consumer protection or food saftey. NOW THATS some bullshit!
The government sure knows what fear buttons to push when they come up with some new tax they want to push on people. All they have to do is imply its to protect us and people will just agree to it.
If the Government had just said, “we are going to charge a fee because its a fair price to ask considering we have no way to track how much they sell or collect a sales tax on what they sell” they would have had me at hello.
lol, nevermind. i’m having issues lately deciding which side i’m on. best to hear both sides of the argument eh?
Actually nai blanc, having a license does make a difference in countries like Canada, trust me I lived in a country where there were no driving test’s, as long as you had “bribery” money, you got your licence. And let me tell you, driving is a hellaofalot safer here. Not to mention, it does help to keep tabs on the people who break the laws. Maybe same goes in this case? However I do agree with loving life for the reasoning of the taxation. I am no expert in this area, but from the people I know that lobster fish, although the work line isn’t exactly easy, I don’t think they lack in the money they make. Of course I could be wrong.
Fuck the fisherman. I have no sympathy for them. They should be taxed, just like everyone else. Here’s the facts about fishermen. They work 5 months of the year and get paid for a year’s work. Instead of saving any of it, they blow it all and live off pogey the remaining months of the year. Remember how great the UI system was before they ruined it by exploiting it? Hm, I say tax them, make them pay fees, everything under the sun. I pay fees to have my professional licenses, so why shouldn’t they? Half of them make more than me, and they cry poor? Please.
K, did you even read the article? PSP risk is confined to tomalley in lobsters, which means the FLESH is perfectly fucking fine to eat. PS: the word lobster isn’t even in the article you cited(Wikipedia, way to go there sport). Let’s try Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who would also be informing lobster/fishing/etc. boats of red tide issues: http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/contami… Olook, just the tomalley listed.
Im kinda agreeing with you on this one Dr. Fever
My 2 uncles, several cousins and my great uncle are lobster fisherman in Antigonish County. So believe me if you think they don’t have to work the other seven months of the year that is total bullshit. Do you know how much a lobster fishing boat costs or traps or all of the other licenses not to mention diesel or gas fuel? Now they don’t sell on the side of the road but if they did I would totally support them. The rest of the year they work construction or at a rock quarry or numerous other labour jobs. They are some of the hardest working, honest people I know and I think its pretty off base to just say lobster fisherman slack off the rest of the year. Ever been out in a boat at 5am in rainy cold weather in the wind cutting up stinky bait to put it in the traps? I did a few years ago and got sea sick puked over the side of the side of the boat and to have my uncle bring me back in. Yes I felt like a pussy but thats not the point “Dr Fever” sounds like another spoiled yuppie. And guess what lobster fisherman have good seasons and crap seasons its not a guaranteed salary and no most of the fisherman aren’t rich and So fucking what if some of them have newer trucks- It’s called a work vehicle- not a poser mobile. and personally most don’t even have new trucks, actually my uncle had our old 1990 chevrolet truck up until this year when the steering wheel broke off- I’m not kidding about that. Most actually have older trucks because they are too sensible to scratch up a new truck hauling the traps to the wharf. Wow this was a long comment but it really got me going! I hate ignorant morons!
Im with you Calico. I grew up in a fishing village, and know how hard these guys work for their money. If the fishermen make good money, it’s because the market dictates it. It’s not like they are coming out and saying “I’m selling my lobster for $5 a pound and that’s all”. 30 years ago, lobster fishing was barely a living. Fever, these guys work harder in 5 months then you probably do all year so fuck off with your uninformed opinion. I’d love to see you hauling a trap at 5AM..
Fuck you BRoc. They’re hard workers, yes but to make two years salary in 2 months and we pay them the rest of the year to sit on their asses.
No ‘kinda’ about it… Fever’s got the know.
They spend like there’s no tomorrow in their off season and it’s now my problem, why? They should have saved instead of buying that new Avalanche a few years ago when it was 9, 10, even $13 bucks a pound.
Sympathy my ass.
I grew up living 2 minutes walk from the warf.
I used to play on the breakwater FFS.
They can go without now.
Calico and BRoc— I pay to have my professional licenses, so why shouldn’t they? Should that make me exempt? I work very hard for my money, although it’s not out on the the water. My point is that they should not receive special treatment, and given the nature of fisheries, don’t you think it would be intelligent to save money while the fish markets are good? Here’s the thing: they don’t. I’m just saying that as someone who pays to conduct business on a daily basis, they should not receive special treatment just because the fish market sucks.
my step-dad WAS a lobster fisherman… for 25 years.
now, he’s got broken feet and hands and should have his own room in the hospital, he’s there so often.
I’m not discounting the fact that it’s hard work…
but even he agrees we’re the ones getting raped by them.
Money-wise, they had it too good for too long.
And fuck off about the gas, we all get pegged for that.
they don’t have to buy all that shit EVERY year….
to START to be a lobster fisherman now would be tough but that’s not the case with 99% of them.
It never fails to amaze me what kind of brainwashing has gone on in this country… We need to revisit the phrase, “God keep our land glorious and free” more often, I guess. I wonder why the government feels so privileged to create a permit necessity for everything and God knows why they think we aught to pay for it, even a nickle? Where do they calculate the value of a permit anyway? It’s not like they have to administer a test or anything?
When this sort of crap affects our ability to earn a living, our constitutional right… grrr
Face it. A $40 permit isn’t protecting the consumer from anything sold on the side of the road. Coughing up for a permit can’t protect the consumer from a shitty song played by an out-of-tune busker. Permits don’t even protect the purchaser from hurting themselves with it (ie. that lady whose new garage fell into the sink hole resulting from PERMITTED work done to the drainage pipes running underneath). It wasn’t so long ago there was no such thing as income tax but I’ll bet this is news to our new grads. Brainwashed.
10$ for earmarks, 10$ to discourage sales, 5$ for taxes, and 15$ for cocktail parties.
Hey ‘k’. You may want to consider changing your screen name so you don’t get confused with anyone else who posts on this board.
Just a suggestion…
Oh so it’s about the money is it guys? Hmmm if the government handed out money to you, you’re saying you wouldn’t take it? You’d be all “Mm no, I don’t want that money, cos I think it would be for the better of everyone else”. Yeah right. I’m not saying the fishermen should get EI (nowhere in my post did I say that, by the way). I’m saying the guilty one here is the government for allowing it in the first place.
I was talking with an older generation lobster fisherman over Christmas about some of the things Dr.Fever, BRoc, zZz and calico are discussing. Basically, he was saying that many of the younger guys who go out are being stupid with their money and he has little sympathy for them. He was saying they should know that the fisheries are an up-and-down kinda thing and when the season is good you have to squirrel some away for that bad season. Maybe that’s why he runs 3 boats and most of the younger guys are struggling to keep their one running.
Unfortunately they can teach a man to fish, but they often don’t teach them how to run a business.
exactly Miles… the step-dad was removed from that life about 10 years ago …. won’t mention why cause it’s not important…
the silver platter’s gone, mates.
and for once, I can’t complain about anything Kay said.
What the hell is going on? perhaps I shouldn’t have had that last beer at Gatsby’s.
To be brutally honest.. I’m not letting the fact that I hate lobster affect my opinion, simply because I know people that DO like it and I like to think that I can cook anything at any time even if I can’t appreciate the rich (or rubbery) flavor. Too god damn much Iron Chef, F-Word, Hell’s kitchen, Bobby Flay, and a buch of others that really don’t need my plug.