Nelson Sergerie
GASPÉ – The mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté is now calling for the possibility of buying back licences for shrimp fishermen dealing with the turbulence in the fishing sector.
Daniel Côté notes that the two principles of not imposing a moratorium on shrimp fishing and lifting the one that was in force on redfish were a good idea.
“On the other hand, when we dissect the figures on granted or pre-granted quotas, the figures are too small to justify our shrimp fishermen taking off this year. No one would certainly have profitable operations this year,” says the mayor.
According to him, fishing companies need a boost for rationalization to remove shrimp fishermen from the fleet.
“So that the piece of the pie is distributed among fewer players rather than among all the current players so that a few can get their heads above water or make money,” says the mayor.
The buyback of licenses is the most likely avenue in his eyes. “There are fishermen who would be ready to get out of the industry and let others try to survive. But there is no desire to move in this direction from the federal government. The fishermen are sounding the alarm very loudly,” notes the mayor.
On the ground, the elected official has felt the economic impacts for almost two years, due to the already precarious situation in the shrimp industry.
“All businesses are suffering. People have less money so they spend less. Therefore, less investment in local shops and businesses. This crisis has a major impact,” says Mr. Côté
If the redfish quota increased to 150,000 or 200,000 tonnes, the elected official believes that shrimp fishermen would convert to redfish and a few would stick with fishing shrimp.
“We might (then) be starting to emerge from the crisis. Currently, this is not the case. People tell me that it’s great to go fishing for redfish, but as long as the markets and the processing capacity are not there, it’s useless. But the capacity for transformation can be done quickly after having spoken with stakeholders,” the mayor is told.
He believes that extra work will have to be done for marketing. “It is a collective challenge to ensure that redfish can find their place on the market. At the same time, if we take the redfish out of the Gulf, we remove shrimp’s largest predator and help restore the stocks. But if it stays at 25,000 tonnes, the fishermen will not convert and we know that we will give way to processing boats and that will not help our economy,” analyzes Mr. Côté
He is under the impression that the years 2024, 2025 and perhaps 2026 will be years of turbulence. “There are so many factors beyond our control. Are we going to succeed collectively?” asks the mayor.
Without a redfish quota announced as the fishing season is fast approaching, the mayor wonders what will happen in the short term.
“I can’t get my head around the quotas and how the fishermen are going to distribute them. If the fishermen do not go out (to sea), there are impacts on the economy,” he says, noting that 1,000 jobs are at stake in the fishing sector of Gaspé.