ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland – Angered by a federal halt to almost all cod fishing, the Newfoundland and Labrador government called Thursday for changing Canada’s constitution to give the province more control over the industry.

Premier Roger Grimes said he will introduce a motion directing his government to open constitutional negotiations with the federal government for joint management of ocean fishing. Under the Constitution, the federal government has sole jurisdiction.

On April 24, Federal Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault announced the closure of most of the remaining East Coast cod fishing industry because of depleted stocks. The shutdown was expected to affect 900 licensed fishermen, as well as plant workers.

It was the latest blow to the fishing economy by the federal government. A 1992 moratorium on the northern Newfoundland cod fishing industry and a similar ban on the southern Newfoundland industry the next year eliminated 40,000 jobs in the largest layoff in Canadian history.

“Again we have a made-in-Ottawa decision thrust upon us without regard and respect for the consensus of the people of this province,” Grimes said. “This situation can no longer be allowed to stand.”

His amendment, he said, would provide for shared and equal management of ocean fishing with the federal government.

The provincial government has long sought more control of its natural resources and blames the federal government for mismanaging the cod industry to the point of collapse.

Grimes must call a provincial election by the end of the year, and raising the constitutional issue was seen as an attempt to rally support over a persistent grievance: federal policies forced on the province.

The federal minister for intergovernmental affairs, Stephane Dion, rejected opening constitutional talks involving the federal government and all 13 provinces and territories.

“No amendment would bring back the fish or do anything for the communities,” he said in Parliament.