After an incredible year of catches for the stewardship cod fishery, the Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council (NLGIDC) is asking for more cod — 4,000 more tonnes, to be exact.
The NLGIDC is a collaboration of harvesters through the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and a number of processors including Beothic Fish Processors Limited, Barry Group Inc., the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Co. and the Fogo Island Co-operative Society.
Between the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, the 2020 and 2021 cod surveys weren’t completed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), which led to a standstill on the catch limit imposed on the 2J3KL fishery, with the current limit set at 17,000 tonnes.
However, during last year’s season, the landings for cod far outpaced expectations, according to Jim Baird, the chair of the NLGIDC.
“The catches in the fishery were phenomenal,” said Baird. “From 2016 until 2021, there was never a week where the cod catches reached 2,000 tonnes in a week. Last year, there were 2,000 tonnes for the first four weeks of the fishery.”
Given this sudden uptick in landings, the fishery reached its 12,999-tonne limit at a much faster rate than the years previous — turning what was supposed to be a seven-week fishery into a short three-and-a-half week one.
In response, the NLGIDC, along with the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, have called for DFO to raise the maximum harvest to 17,000 tonnes. Baird believes this is a fair increase for the fishery while having minimal effects on cod stocks.
“The fishing mortality for Northern cod was about 0.018, so 1.8 per cent of the total population over the past couple of years. So, there’s very few cod being killed, percentage-wise, from fishing,” said Baird. “The natural mortality rate was 0.45 or 0.47 in the last assessment — that was 2021. That would result in 30 or 35 per cent. The number of fish being killed naturally is an order of magnitude higher than the number of fish dying through fishing. This is why we believe there can be a marginal increase in the quota, going from 13,000 tonnes to 17,000 tonnes, it will still result in a fishing mortality of 0.025 or 0.03 — two-and-a-half or three per cent compared to 35 per cent in natural mortality.”
DFO established the stewardship fishery for Northern cod in order to better understand the health of the cod stock and assist in future fisheries management decisions. Without any surveys being done by DFO, the only information gleaned from the past couple of years was from the stewardship fishery.
Given that DFO counsels with the NLGIDC on decisions around the stewardship fishery and other parties have submitted similar proposals to them, Baird is hopeful that the fishery will see some, if not all, of what they’re seeking from the government when they make their decision in mid-June.
“I’d be happy to see the yardsticks move at all,” said Baird. “We’d be happy with any increase because at least we can see the needle move.”
