Members of the province’s 16 eastern fishery associations now have access to a standard website template.
Keith Colwell, the provincial fisheries minister, made the announcement in Port Hawkesbury Wednesday.
He says the tool will make it easier for association officials to communicate with their members, and members of the public.
Colwell tells The Hawk the template will save time by putting all important information in one place.
“They can put it on the website- everybody can go on, make their comments on it, and ask any questions,” he says. “Then they can concentrate on doing licensing help and all the other stuff that’s really important to the fishermen.”
Colwell says the website has two sides- a public face used to put out basic information and a password-protected members’ section that can be used to share more sensitive information, including operating expenses, and facilitate private communication.
He says it’ll help make sure everyone has access to the same information.
“It gets one message out- one message is very, very important for them, one united message, so someone doesn’t say ‘This happened,’ and the rumour mill starts,” he says. “That eliminates the rumour mill, and makes it really secure for them.”
Colwell says it cost about $20,000 to build the template, but officials in each association can choose if they use it.
