Status Quo for 2022 SFA 6 Shrimp Quota
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 ...
Price Setting Panel Sides with ASP on Summer Shrimp
Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters will now receive a small increase for their shrimp landings, but not the bump their union was seeking.
Earlier this spring, the Newfoundland and Labrador Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel announced that fishermen would be receiving $1/pound this year for their shrimp. The Fish Food and Allied Workers' union (FFAW) had proposed a price of $1.50/pound to the Panel, but instead it chose the price offered by the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP).
As a ...
On the Waterfront – August 2020
N.L. Capelin Price Up 20 Per Cent
In mid-June, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel sided with harvesters and increased the 2020 price of capelin by 20 per cent over 2019 prices.
Fishermen will now receive $0.42/pound for Grade A capelin. Last year they received $0.35/pound.
The FFAW, which negotiated on behalf of the harvesters, stated that over the past two years, capelin collective bargaining has increased prices by 68 per cent over 2018 levels.
The ...
Shrimp Fishery Showing Signs of Life?
To say the Northern shrimp fishery has had a few rough years would be more than an understatement.
In fact, not too long ago, many in the industry were starting to talk about the possible end of this once lucrative and profitable fishery.
One cannot understate the growth of the shrimp fishery off northeastern Newfoundland.
The fishery for Northern shrimp began off the coast of Labrador in SFA (shrimp fishing area) 5 in the mid-1970s, primarily in the Hopedale and Cartwright Channels, ...
Complexity Versus Simplicity
For as long as I can remember — which now goes back nearly four decades — market research has consistently found that consumers do not feel confident about their abilities to buy fish or prepare it at home.
That is a serious problem for our industry, because it means people consume less fish than they would otherwise. But it is also a problem that provides opportunities.
Compared to other protein foods — beef, pork, poultry, sheep — fish are complicated. Consumers typically ...
Shrimp Market Turmoil With High Prices in Newfoundland and Strike on West Coast
There was a lot of turmoil in the coldwater prawn market prior to the Brussels seafood show, as demand seems to be stronger at the moment, but it is unclear whether the strength will last.
Norway is beginning to see landings from the Barents Sea and export volumes of cooked and peeled shrimp are about 40 per cent higher for the first three months of this year than last year. However, current prices for cooked and peeled are about 11 per cent lower than the full-year average of 2018.
The ...
Shrimp Stocks in SFA 6 Show Signs of Life
Fishable Biomass Down in Northern SFAs 4 and 5
The beleaguered Northern shrimp fishery off Newfoundland’s northeast coast recently received a small shot in the arm — particularly in the all-important shrimp fishing area (SFA) 6.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) held a technical briefing in February regarding the 2019 Northern shrimp stock assessment and to the surprise of many, the stock in SFA 6 finally seems to be holding its own. SFA 6 is where the majority of the inshore ...
The Future, Fast and Slow
In 2011, an award-winning and best-selling book was Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.
Dr. Kahneman had won a Nobel Prize in economics for work he discussed in the book. Although it is interesting and worth reading, this column is not really about Dr. Kahneman’s work.
Instead, it’s about the future of the fishery in Atlantic Canada. In some ways, the future is arriving faster than we can deal with it. In others, it is arriving very slowly, maybe slower than we would hope or ...
2017: Twists, Turns and a Little Turmoil
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 ...
Cod, Shrimp and Pangasius See Gains in U.S. Consumption
Cod is the big winner in the per capita U.S. consumption numbers, as it has taken an increased share of the whitefish market over the past five years.
The per capita consumption numbers released by the National Fisheries Institute recently showed a drop in overall U.S. seafood consumption from 15.5 to 14.9 pounds. Almost all of the drop was attributable to salmon, where consumption fell .7 pounds per person.
The NMFS model, on which NFI bases its numbers, is a disappearance model and is ...
