DFO Under Fire for Substantial Reductions to Gulf Fishery
As was predicted, it appears inshore harvesters within Northeastern Newfoundland’s shrimp fishing area 6 (SFA 6) will have the same quota as last year.
On April 27, the Northern Shrimp Advisory Committee (NSAC) released its decision for the total allowable catch for Northern shrimp, with SFA 6 receiving a small cut of 1.1 per cent. Last year, SFA 6 fishermen were given a 15 per cent increase in the total allowable catch (TAC).
The FFAW-Unifor appeared satisfied the quota announcement.
“With SFA 6 being categorized in the critical zone, the decision aligns with the current precautionary approach (PA) for the species. However, FFAW-Unifor has been raising the alarm for several years on the limit reference point (LRP) within the PA — which was set at a time when cod was at its lowest and ocean conditions were much different than present. The LRP must be reviewed to take into account the current ecosystem and the interconnected marine environment. As it stands, the current reference points are unrealistic and is contradictory to rebuilding plans for other species.”
However, despite the status quo quota in SFA 6, the news was not as good for the more northern SFA 5, where the 2022 quota was decreased by 12 per cent. While in SFA 4, the quota got a major bump of 30 per cent over last year.
However, the news was much different for the Northern shrimp fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
On April 22, DFO announced a 19 per cent reduction in SFA 8, 18 per cent reduction in SFA 9, 13 per cent reduction in SFA 12, with a very small increase to SFA 10.
A group representing Indigenous shrimp harvesters, as well as shrimp harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec and New Brunswick are collectively speaking out against what it calls Minister Joyce Murray’s unilateral decision to slash quotas contrary to the established precautionary approach (PA).
“This has a more severe impact on harvesters and coastal communities than the established PA. Moreover, a working group had already been established by DFO to review the current PA and work collaboratively to develop a potential new PA. Minister Murray disregarded this working group and the work completed to date in order to unilaterally impose unfounded cuts on the shrimp fishery,” the shrimp coalition stated in a press release.
“Minister Murray is not managing Canada’s fisheries in a collaborative manner. The current PA was established less than ten years ago after extensive consultations between scientists, managers and fish harvesters. Disregarding the agreed upon management rules without adequately consulting industry is simply unheard of and shows this Minister is unconcerned with the effect her decisions are having on real people,” says Jean Lanteigne, Director General for the Fédération Régionale Acadienne des Pêcheurs Professionnels.
“Fish harvesters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are, for the most part, limited to the shrimp fishery and do not have other fisheries to fall back on or opportunities to diversify their enterprises,” says Keith Sullivan, FFAW president.
“The Minister’s decision to swiftly eliminating this shrimp fishery without a plan in place to help industry transition is negligent and reckless.”
The coalition said that for the last several years, fish harvesters in the Gulf have been participating in science projects to assess the feasibility of a new redfish fishery. “Redfish stocks have taken off in recent years while the shrimp stocks have declined, however DFO has not yet indicated that these harvesters will be primary beneficiaries of that growing resource. Harvesters say that reducing the quotas for shrimp will only result in more being consumed by the redfish.”
“Minister Murray is looking at the shrimp issue without taking into consideration the other factors at play here. The explosion of the redfish stock in the Gulf is making it impossible for the overall size of the shrimp stock to improve — it’s a basic predator-prey relationship that DFO fails to take into account,” says Yan Tremblay, Director General at Pêcheries UAPAN.
“Nobody here is asking for more shrimp — we know the resource is in decline but what we want is for the fishery to be managed according to the accepted practice, not at the Minister’s whim.”
The coalition of harvesters is demanding Murray revisit this decision and ensure any changes to the PA be done in a collaborative manner per the Working Group already established.
