Industry Waiting for Minister’s Decision on Future Quota Allotments
Unless the scientific advice says otherwise, it will be status quo for the 2022/23 Unit 1 redfish total allowable catch (TAC).
“The index fishery was maintained at 2,000 metric tonnes and the experimental fishery quota was set at 2,500 tonnes with the understanding that the experimental quota may increase, but only under science approval,” said Victoria Waizmann, media relations with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
With the pending rebound of the Unit 1 redfish fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, interest in the experimental redfish fishery has been growing. Last year, there were 13 successful applicants who submitted experimental fishing plans. Not all the projects proceeded, however.
This year, DFO received 16 applications for the experimental redfish fishery. The Department is currently reviewing them, said Waizmann. “The intention is to have the final decision on successful applicants in mid-May.”
The index fishery, which has a set number of harvesters and vessels each year, typically starts mid-June, after the spawning closure, said Waizmann. The management period for redfish runs from May 15 to May 14 of the following year.
Louisbourg Seafoods in Cape Breton has been a participant in the redfish index fishery since the 1990s. “We fish in Unit 1 and 2 and other areas besides that,” said finfish manager Jan Voutier, who serves on the redfish advisory committee.
“We’ve been here before everybody got excited about redfish, when redfish wasn’t sexy and cool, we were here doing redfish when no one else cared about it. We’ve been one of the biggest users of redfish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for many, many years,” said Voutier.
Louisbourg Seafoods fishes redfish year-round, processing the catch as fresh and frozen whole fish and fillets as well as fresh and frozen bait.
“We do everything with it,” said Voutier.
According to preliminary statistics from DFO, in 2021, 733 tonnes of redfish were landed in the Unit 1 experimental fishery and 889 tonnes in the index fishery. In 2020, 423 tonnes were landed in the experimental fishery and 519 tonnes in the index fishery. In 2019, a total of 922 tonnes were landed with a landed value of just under $902,000.
Voutier said there are a number of reasons not all the TAC is caught each year.
“The biggest one, years ago, there was low demand for the product. We’ve solved all those problems. We’ve built demand. We’ve taken ocean perch from being a cheap commodity on the marketplace that nobody cared about to one that is sought after. We’ve done a lot of work on quality and programs. We have a large demand for the resource once it’s produced into fillets for sure.”
With indications in DFO’s management strategy evaluation that by 2024 to 2026, redfish in Unit 1 and 2 could support a harvest of 40 to 60 kilotonnes per year, to be shared by Québec and Atlantic Canada. The industry is just waiting for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray to decide on the future quota allotment share.
“We’re at a little bit of a standstill waiting for the quota allotments to come out, whether the minister is going to change any historic shares that have been there. We’re cautiously optimistic that things will be managed in a way that’s going to be good for the industry,” said Voutier.
“We have big investments into the fishery. We don’t need anybody to tear the heart out of it, that’s for sure.”
DFO held consultations with industry and other stakeholders last fall to help determine access and allocation for the potential fishery.
For now, the redfish still have some growing to do before it has any real commercial value, said Voutier.
“There’s plenty of fish there. It just needs to grow up. There’s a really great future in redfish. We just have to be a little bit patient until it gets to a size that has real value.”
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada is compiling submissions received from the Redfish Unit 1 Access and Allocation consultations into a draft What We Heard 2 report. This input will be shared with the Redfish Advisory Committee (RAC) participants shortly. The Department will seek input on the report from RAC participants before decisions are made on access and allocation for a future Unit 1 commercial fishery,” said Waizmann.
Unit 1 redfish has been under moratorium since the 1990s with the exception of the index and experimental fisheries. Unit 1 includes Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Divisions 4RST and 3Pn + 4Vn.
The redfish fishery in Unit 1 consists of two redfish species that occur in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Laurentian Channel areas; Deepwater redfish (Sebastes mentella) and Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus). Sebastes mentella is now in the healthy zone, while Sebastes fasciatus is in the cautious zone.
