vol. 10, no.5, october 1981 - Memorial University of Newfoundland

The Leading Tick les plant has
also recently undergone som e
major ch ang es including a
change of man agem ent to
Clarenville Oce an Produ cts .
Ha rris Chippett explains that in
the 21 years the pla nt has been in
operation. it has had seven
operators.
During the mid-1970s the plant
attracted the attention of the
Exploits Valley Development
Association who spearheaded a
drive to attract the Canadian
Sailfish Corporation to the area.
Development co-ordinator Carl
Hudgell became involved in
subsequent negotiations with th e
Dep artment of Fisheries and
Rural Deve lopment to upgrade
wharf and plant facilities that
had deteriorated substantially.
Budgell also became involved
in negotiations betw een
Seawater Products Ltd. in 1918
and Seawater Fisheries Ltd. in
1980, both of whom were placed
in receivership due to failure of
their marketing operations
elsewhere.
Th e plant's re cord has been
im pressive enough to attract the
new oper ator, Claren vllle Ocean
Products. who started on 6 Ju ne
1981. The comp any began
operations on the tail of one of
the most successful seasons at
the plant in 1980. With an
estimated 2.2 million pounds of
fish handled, and some $500,000
paid in combined fish purchases
and plant wages In 1980, the
operation started optimistically
employing 33 workers this
summer.
Budgell's development group
at Grand Falls was responsible
for negotiations for the addition
of many of the existing facilities
such as a $50,000 ice machine
and chilling facility, new stage
constru ction in 1979, and the
addition of a skinning machine
which has increased em -
DECKS AWASH·2V
ploym ent at the plant by over 20
persons .
Th e improved faciliti es have
also had a marked effe ct on the
fishery in the area whic h employed
as many as 40 persons in
th e 1980fishery. Leadi ng Tickles
has ex perie nced a n overall
inc re ase in the numbers of
pe rsons particip atin g in the
fishery over th e yea rs. In 1975,
an average of 50 to 60 Cishermen
landed only about 328,000pounds
of fish. The area now supports
from 75 to 100 fishermen who
have landed as much as 3
million pounds of fish in a
season.
In sp ite of an overall decrease
in the prosperity of the fishery
throughout the province,
communities like Leading
Tickl es hav e good rea son to be
more th an optim isti c ove r the
fate of their fishery. They hav e
the facilities , all they need is the
weather and a few Itsh . Anybody
out there got a few to sp are ? II