{"id":823122,"date":"2026-07-24T13:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823122\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T13:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:28:18","slug":"too-dangerous-family-demands-changes-to-fishing-restrictions-following-deaths-in-harbour-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823122\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Too dangerous\u2019: Family demands changes to fishing restrictions following deaths in Harbour Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the community of Harbour Round, N.L. mourns two fishermen who died at sea \u2014 and rallies around the survivor \u2014 family members are calling for changes to eliminate the pressure harvesters feel to fish in dangerous weather.<\/p>\n

Stanley Giles and Michael Peter Seymour both died Tuesday, after their speedboat took on water while fishing cod commercially.<\/p>\n

The lone survivor, Stanley\u2019s brother, Junior Giles, says he managed to swim about 100 metres in the Atlantic Ocean before climbing up the rocks. He pulled Seymour in when he drifted to shore, and tried to perform CPR to save his friend.<\/p>\n

Junior Giles said he waited hours on the rocks before another fishing boat found him. He then helped search for his brother\u2019s body on the water.<\/p>\n

The water was rough that day, he added, and said they might not have gone out if they didn’t feel they had to. Their processor only buys fish on a few, select days each week \u2014 meaning if the weather\u2019s bad, there\u2019s still pressure to fish.<\/p>\n

WATCH | \u2018What do you do when you only got a couple of days to get your quota?\u2019:\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018We have two more souls gone,\u2019 says sister of deceased fish harvester<\/p>\n

On the Baie Verte Peninsula, Thursday was filled with remembrances of Stanley Giles and Michael Peter Seymour. Both fish harvesters died Tuesday. The CBC\u2019s Laura Howells reports from Harbour Round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you do when you only got a couple of days to get your quota?” asked Giles\u2019 sister, Roxanne Payne. “You take the risk, and you go.”<\/p>\n

If people were allowed to fish every day, she said, they could stay safely home when it\u2019s too windy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shouldn’t have been out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

‘We gotta stay strong’<\/p>\n

Three of Giles\u2019 sisters and a niece spoke to CBC News on the Harbour Round wharf, remembering the men they lost.<\/p>\n

Stanley Giles was a husband, father and grandfather who died at age 66.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His sisters described him as smart and funny and a man who\u2019d do anything for anybody. One of 10 children, he was an excellent twine-mender and jack of all trades who fished most of his life with his brother.<\/p>\n

\"AStanley Giles of Harbour Round died July 21, 2026. (Submitted by Roxanne Payne)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went out there and he risked his life everyday on the water to provide for his family. But you know what? He didn’t want to be anywhere else,\u201d said his niece, Shania Payne.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHe passed doing what he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Peter Seymour was described as a craftsman and jokester, full of humour, stories and generosity. The 66-year-old was also a father and grandfather.<\/p>\n

Seymour collected beach wood to craft rocking chairs, ugly sticks and benches. He also constructed small boats.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways making something, always out catching something to eat,\u201d said Roxanne Payne, whose family grew up with Seymour. \u201cHe was a very crafty and handy man.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StandingMichael Peter Seymour of Harbour Round died July 21, 2026. (Submitted by Roxanne Payne)<\/p>\n

Evelyn Skinner says Seymour was the first man at her grocery store each morning, always coming in for his mango energy drink.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you didn\u2019t have the mango, he didn\u2019t want no other kind,\u201d she said, Seymour brought her a meal of fresh fish last week, and would bring in other meals and jam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family is grieving \u2014 but also trying to support their surviving brother, Junior, who was down at the wharf for much of the morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to stay strong for the one that survived,\u201d said Roxanne Payne.<\/p>\n

Boats continued to come in and out of the wharf on Thursday. Despite the grief, people still need to fish for their living.<\/p>\n

But family and other fish harvesters want people to fish when it\u2019s safe \u2014 not just on days the processor demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes they\u2019re going out there, it\u2019s too dangerous. But they can\u2019t give up everything,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0said Roxanne Payne.<\/p>\n

Local MHA Lin Paddock also came to the wharf Thursday. When asked about the calls for change, he acknowledged the need for improved safety \u2014 but said right now should be about supporting mourning families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll take that back to the minister of fisheries,\u201d Paddock, the PC MHA for Baie Verte-Green Bay, said. \u201cHopefully we can have some discussions there for potential review and also looking at some of that federally as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABaie Verte-Green Bay MHA Lin Paddock said right now is about supporting the grieving families and communities. (Laura Howells\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement to CBC News on Thursday, the federal Transportation Safety Board said occurrences like the one in Harbour Round do not result in investigation reports. However, information collected can be used for “possible future safety analysis.”<\/p>\n

But Roxanne Payne wants to see action now.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I’d like for to come out of this is that the government would make change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two more souls gone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Download our\u00a0free CBC News app<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our\u00a0daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click\u00a0here to visit our landing page<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the community of Harbour Round, N.L. mourns two fishermen who died at sea \u2014 and rallies around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-823122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}