The year 2017 will soon be added to the annals of history.
For the fishery, wouldn’t it be good to look back at the developments of the last 12 months, rub your hands together in a satisfied fashion and state that it was a good year — an unqualified success, so to speak.
But as everyone already knows, the fishing industry in Atlantic Canada is unfortunately never that simple to summarize in a few words. It is an extremely challenging and complex business with as many highs and lows as species in the sea — and as per normal, 2017 was no different.
The year started out, like it always does, with the main focus being the massive lobster fishery in lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33-34 off Southwest Nova Scotia.
Over the last few years, this fishery has been setting records for both catch rates and price per pound. When these factors were combined with a weak Canadian dollar, it resulted in big profits for both harvesters and processors. But this year saw the industry come back down to earth a little. While catch rates were still good, they were not at the same record-breaking levels as recent years. As well, the price was steady, but fishermen were not getting as high as they had seen in recent years. For processors, a strengthening Canadian dollar also cut into profit margins.
However, despite a leveling off of the industry in 2017, there remains a quiet optimism for the 2018 lobster season.
The crux of the positive feeling is related to the September 21 implementation of the long-awaited Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). On that date, nearly 96 per cent of EU fish and seafood tariff lines were immediately eliminated on certain Canadian seafood products, including live lobster — which previously had an eight per cent tariff added for EU markets.
Another source of optimism originating in 2017 was the $400-million Atlantic Fisheries Fund (AFF), which is now open for business and accepting proposals.
The once controversial AFF (remember the bizarre and much-publicized spat between Ottawa and N.L.) will focus on growing opportunities and increasing market value for sustainably sourced, high quality fish and seafood products from Atlantic Canada.
The AFF originated in the wake of the controversial $400-million Fisheries Investment Fund that was supposedly negotiated a few years ago between Conservative governments in Ottawa and Newfoundland and Labrador — related to the removal of minimum processing requirements in the Newfoundland fish processing sector. The earlier fund was a bargaining chip to allow Canada to finalize CETA. The deal never did materialize. Out of the ashes of that failed agreement came a fund that is aimed at helping all four Atlantic provinces.
As it seems every year, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and its minister, Dominic LeBlanc, were in the headlines this past year, more often than not.
In a court decision this past spring, it was ruled that the owner-operator, fleet separation and PIIFCAF (Policy for Preserving the Independence of the Inshore Fleet in Canada’s Atlantic Fisheries) policies were within the authority of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and could be enforced.
In May, Justice Cecily Strickland ruled the federal fisheries minister was entitled to strip fishing licences from Cartwright, Labrador fisherman Kirby Elson.
DFO also made a few decisions in 2017 that were not viewed in the most positive light by some industry stakeholders.
On July 20, the department announced the early closure of snow crab fishing area 12 in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. This decision was made in an effort to protect North Atlantic right whales from risks posed by snow crab fishing gear in the area.
After the death of more than a dozen right whales this year in the Gulf, many fishermen are worried about what new whale-related restrictions might be on the horizon. This comes on the heels of a very successful snow crab season in the southern Gulf, which saw quotas more than double to 43,822 tonnes in 2017.
Another DFO decision that really took many by surprise involved the introduction of a fourth licence for Arctic surf clams, representing 25 per cent of the existing total allowable catch (TAC) for 2018. The current Grand Banks Arctic surf clam quota, which is fished exclusively by Clearwater Seafoods, is about 38,000 tonnes.
To date, three partnerships involving indigenous groups have been formed to bid on this new and lucrative licence to harvest Arctic surf clams.
A Newfoundland-based partnership between the Miawpukek First Nation, the Innu Nation, the Qalipu First Nation and the Cooke Clam Group recently announced it will be submitting a bid for the fourth licence. With the three leaders of the Miawpukek, Innu and Qalipu signing the agreement, they plan to submit the clam licence proposal under the single entity First Nations of Newfoundland and Labrador (FN-NL).
The next indigenous partnership that will be bidding on the licence is made up of 13 Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq bands. This group announced it will be partnering with current quota holder Clearwater Seafoods.
The third and most recent partnership announced is between the Innu of Quebec, the Mi’gmaq of New Brunswick, the Southern Inuit of Labrador and Ocean Choice International (OCI).
This partnership said it is also open to accepting another Indigenous group from Nova Scotia and/or P.E.I. This joint proposal is made up of the Innu Band Council of Nutashkuan, Quebec, Nunacor, the economic development company for the NunatuKavut Community Council in Labrador, the Indian Island First Nation, representing the North Shore Micmac District Council of New Brunswick and OCI.
This somewhat surprising decision came only a few months after Clearwater announced more than $5 million in new investments for its Arctic surf clam fishery infrastructure.
The investment included a $2-million investment to establish clam processing capacity at Clearwater’s Highland Fisheries facility in Glace Bay and $3.6 million for the company’s existing Grand Bank facility to increase grading and processing, improve infrastructure and expand production of additional value-added product formats.
In 2015, Clearwater added the Belle Carnell, a $65-million, state-of-the-art vessel and the most advanced of its kind in the world, to meet global demand for Arctic surf clams. More recently, on December 1, the company welcomed the $70-million Anne Risely to its clam fleet, adding more productivity and efficiency gains.
Despite the realization that the cod fishery appears to be slowly rising from the ashes in Newfoundland and Labrador, the overall mood of the fishery off the shores of Canada’s eastern-most province was one of concern.
The majority of this concern came from more cuts to Northern shrimp and snow crab quotas.
Some harvesters were taken aback when DFO announced a 63 per cent cut to the inshore Northern shrimp quota in fishing area 6 — meaning the total allowable catch for SFA 6 went from 48,196 tonnes in 2015 to 27,825 tonnes in 2016, to 10,400 tonnes announced for 2017. This amounted to a 78 per cent quota reduction over two years.
A short time later, DFO announced the snow crab TAC for the N.L. region would be set at 35,419 tonnes, an overall quota level decrease of approximately 22 per cent from 2016.
These cuts led to widespread concern from fishermen and even protests. The first action took place in early April when dozens of fishermen from northeastern Newfoundland and southern Labrador forced their way into the federal Fisheries headquarters in St. John’s. Their demands included a new inshore shrimp-sharing arrangement for 2017 in light of the severe quota cuts.
This was followed by a high-profile, 11-day, hunger strike by Richard Gillett, a well-known inshore fish harvester from Twillingate and vice-president of the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL).
And speaking of FISH-NL, the upstart labour organization, which wants to break away from the FFAW and represent harvesters exclusively, was still trudging forward in its efforts to trigger a certification vote.
This past fall, FISH-NL said it is pleased with the N.L. Labour Relations Board’s release of what officials describe as an “accurate and reliable” list of the province’s inshore harvesters.
Obtained from various “sources,” the labour board’s list includes the names of 6,371 inshore harvesters — almost 4,000 fewer than the 10,200 active, dues-paying members that the FFAW-Unifor has claimed to represent, FISH-NL explained.
Submitted to the Labour Relations Board on Dec. 30, 2016, FISH-NL’s application for certification included membership cards signed by 2,372 inshore harvesters, collected over a two-month certification drive from more than 300 communities around Newfoundland and Labrador.
The organization said that based on the labour board’s number of harvesters, FISH-NL’s support is close to the 40 per cent mark required to trigger a vote for harvesters to decide which union will represent them.
However, the FFAW had a different interpretation of the Labour Board list.
“A list recently provided by the Board to both FFAW and FISH-NL is not a complete list of fish harvesters, nor was it portrayed as such by the Board. In fact, in our review of the list we have found that several thousand active, commercial fish harvesters are not listed,” FFAW-Unifor President Keith Sullivan said in a press release.
“FFAW-Unifor remains confident in the accuracy of our fish harvesting membership numbers. Our Union is following the Labour Relations Board process to verify our membership, and absolutely no decisions have been made by the Board at this point in the process. This is simply another desperate attempt by Ryan Cleary and FISH-NL to exaggerate and spin a step in the Board’s process in an effort to legitimize FISH-NL’s fledgling campaign to obtain a membership vote without having met the requirements set by legislation. Unlike FISH-NL, FFAW has respect for the Labour Relations Board and its processes. Cleary’s sideshows do a disservice to the industry and only distract from the serious work to be done for our members,” Sullivan said.
And so, the fight continues — whether a winner will emerge in 2018, remains to be seen.
But despite all of the twists, turns and turmoil that seems to envelop the Atlantic Canadian fishery each year, the possible story of the year for 2017 might actually be a good news one — the opening of the Bay de Verde, N.L. crab plant.
When overlooking the new modern fish plant adjacent to Bay de Verde harbour, it is hard to believe what transpired in the Northern Avalon Peninsula community more than a year and a half ago.
An April 11, 2016, fire destroyed the Quinlan Brothers Ltd. seafood processing plant, devastating the community and impacting the employment of about 700 workers. Fast forward a little over 12 months and local workers were back processing snow crab in the state-of-of-the-art plant — reportedly in excess of 15 million pounds. Just goes to show what hard work and a corporate commitment to community and industry can accomplish.
So, what does 2018 hold for the fishing industry in this region? The Navigator crystal ball is a little cloudy on that one right now, but one thing is for certain, it will not be boring.
