In late December, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) quietly and with little fanfare, released its latest rebuilding plan for the iconic Northern cod stock in NAFO divisions 2J3KL.
And, as predicted by many industry stakeholders, the overall message was to maintain the status quo limited harvesting approach, for now, with this fishery.
Last year, in the midst of other fisheries across the region facing uncertainty due to the worldwide impact of COVID-19, DFO released its latest Northern cod stock status assessment and the news was not good.
A DFO technical briefing document stated that “We continue to be concerned about the status of the Northern cod stock, which remains in the critical zone. Survey indices suggest that recently observed stock growth (2012–2016) may have stalled. Ecosystem conditions indicated limited productivity and reduced food availability may be limiting growth of cod. The precautionary approach requires that removals be kept at lowest possible levels.”
Reaction to DFO’s plan to continue to slowly rebuild the Northern cod stock out of the critical zone by not increasing fishing levels was quick and predictable.
The Atlantic Groundfish Council, which represents cod processors, said it was pleased that this long-awaited plan was now in place and supports both its objectives and its approach.
“A rebuilding plan, including an evidence-based harvest decision rule, is a key component to sustainability and helps maintain the integrity of the resource management process,” said Dr. Kris Vascotto, Executive Director of the Atlantic Groundfish Council.
“In this instance, the harvest decision rule creates some stability around the current catch level, providing for small adjustments to account for small resource fluctuations, reserving more significant catch increases until the resource gets much closer to the threshold where continued recovery is more likely to occur.”
Alberto Wareham, President and CEO of Icewater Seafoods in Arnold’s Cove, North America’s only plant focused solely on cod, concurred.
“This rebuilding plan ensures catch limits are set with the health of the resource as the top priority, providing important reassurance to customers around the world that Canada is committed to rebuilding this iconic stock.”
However, as it did with the 2020 2J3KL stock assessment, the union representing harvesters and plant workers in Newfoundland and Labrador took exception with the DFO rebuilding plan, calling it “discouraging.”
The FFAW-Unifor said the Dec. 21 plan was a major setback for the development of a sustainable cod fishing sector in rural areas of the province.
“The tragedy of the Northern cod moratorium can be directly linked to this same approach to fisheries science that neglected the input of fish harvesters. We are heading back down that road,” says Keith Sullivan, FFAW President.
“This rebuilding plan was developed and launched without any recent consultation with harvesters, or the sector in general. Since the moratorium, harvesters have worked closely with DFO for co-management and these efforts have been failing in recent years.”
In a press release, the FFAW claimed the harvesting management measures, at the heart of the rebuilding plan, are unnecessarily restrictive.
“The Northern cod spawning stock biomass was estimated at 400,000 tonnes at the most recent full assessment. Landings in 2019 were 10,560 tonnes and in 2020, landings decreased to 10,100 tonnes, meaning harvest rates for this stock remain exceptionally low at 2–3 per cent. By comparison, the Barents Sea cod stock, another large cod stock, had a spawning stock biomass (SSB) of 1.4 million tonnes and approximately 700,000-tonne quota — a harvest rate of over 40 per cent. The limit reference point that DFO currently uses for Northern cod is approximately 800,000 tonnes. Under the DFO plan, the harvest rate will not increase until the SSB reaches 600,000 tonnes, meaning that the maximum quota available to that point would be approximately 19,000 tonnes. Consequently, Northern cod will continue to be one of the least harvested cod fisheries in the world and an economic mess for rural Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Sullivan said the rebuilding plan should have also included the commitment from the federal government in 2016 that the first 115,000 tonnes of Northern cod is allocated to inshore harvesters and indigenous groups.
“We are trying to rebuild an industry. We have long argued for a measured, responsible approach to cod quotas, whereby the harvest rate increases as the stock increases. This plan does not allow for meaningful development of our cod fishery. It actually deters investment by harvesters and processors into our cod fishery and our rural communities. With recent declines in snow crab quotas, the Northern cod stewardship fishery is critically important to inshore fish harvesters and processing plant workers in our province. Harvesters need to be consulted because they are on the water and have the knowledge and experience that DFO science does not. This management approach sends a message to the inshore fishery that their insights are not valued, and the federal government is more concerned with appeasing environmental groups and the offshore fleet than ensuring families in the fishery can earn a living,” Sullivan added.
Meanwhile, the Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council (NL-GIDC) said it supports the implementation of a cod rebuilding plan, but not the one put forward by DFO.
In a statement, the NL-GIDC said the harvest strategy in the plan is overly restrictive and will not enable the groundfish industry to rebuild as the stock rebuilds.
The NL-GIDC is an association that represents the FFAW-Unifor, as well as a number of inshore processors operating in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“The DFO rebuilding plan rightfully identifies the main determinant of stock rebuilding for Northern cod to be natural mortality. Yet the thrust of the current plan is to push fishing mortality even lower than the all-time low levels currently observed for this stock which will mean that harvest levels will not keep pace with stock rebuilding.”
Jim Baird, the independent chair of the NL-GIDC, said “As this stock rebuilds towards its biomass limit, one would expect that some small increase in fishing mortality would be permitted to occur. With the DFO plan, it is proposed that the harvest rate declines further as the stock rebuilds. This defies logic.”
The NL-GIDC said it is calling on the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to instruct officials to implement virtual engagement with stakeholders on this important initiative early in 2021 to enable the development of a more reasonable rebuilding plan.
While the overall catch limit for the 2020 Northern cod stewardship fishery (12,350 tonnes) was the same as the previous year, harvesters did not get the same price as they did in 2019.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Standing Fish Price Setting Panel selected the position of the Association of Seafood Processors (ASP), meaning that the 2020 late summer/fall price was $0.80/pound for grade “A” cod and the spring/early summer price was $0.73/pound. This was down about $0.10/pound from 2019. The prices for grade “B” ($0.40/pound) and “C” cod ($0.20/pound) remained the same as the 2019 late summer/fall prices.
