Published February 14, 2024

Nelson Sergerie

GASPÉ – The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Diane Lebouthillier, still doesn’t have an emergency plan to support shrimp fishermen who will only have a quota of 3,060 tonnes this year.

In response to reactions among fishermen and industry stakeholders, the minister scheduled a press briefing on February 5. During the briefing, she reiterated that shrimp fishermen will have 10% of the newly announced redfish quota.

A letter sent last week by the Coalition du golfe is once again calling for an emergency fund for shrimp fishermen, along with licence buyouts.

“Licence buyouts are not going to solve everything. Some fishermen want to keep their licences. I don’t want us to lose that expertise. This was done at the time of the cod fishing moratorium. The opening of the commercial redfish fishery is economic diversification and I intend to continue working in this direction,” replies Ms. Lebouthillier at the press briefing.

Some 80 shrimp fishermen in Eastern Canada fear going bankrupt despite the support received from the federal government. About thirty of them are based in the Gaspé Peninsula, mainly in Gaspé.

“We will continue to work with the community. We have reserved money that is allocated to the Fisheries Fund to ensure that the industry adapts. I understand that this is a difficult time. For me, we are not in the same place we were in 1990 when there was the moratorium on groundfish. We have opportunities right now. We have seen other storms and we will get through it together,” concludes the minister.

Ms. Lebouthillier, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Gaspésie-Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine riding took care to point out that the announced quota of 25,000 tonnes of redfish is a minimum amount.
“I want to set the record straight on several key elements, especially the famous floor of 25,000 tonnes of redfish. I want to be clear: the 25,000-tonne floor was only intended to provide stakeholders with some predictability. Following last week’s announcements, if everyone agrees to recommend a total allowable catch of more than 25,000 tonnes, know that I am perfectly open to granting it,” says Ms. Lebouthillier.
Last week, DFO scientists mentioned a possible quota that could exceed 300,000 tonnes.

The minister emphasizes that 10% of the announced quota is reserved for shrimp fishermen. “This is why I’m inviting everyone to exercise great caution by avoiding falling into quick mathematical shortcuts. I know it’s not easy at the moment. Still, collectively, we all have a role to play to avoid unnecessarily making the current situation worse with verbal outbursts and assumptions,” suggests the MP.

The Advisory Committee will make a proposal to the federal government following consultations that will take place in the coming weeks.

Another hot topic is the allowance of processing boats. The redfish quotas were reduced for them to be reallocated to shrimp fishermen and Indigenous communities.

“In short, last week’s decision offers even more opportunities to the smallest players who have seen their balance of power increase since the 1993 moratorium. Trying to claim the opposite is simply false,” says the minister.

“Redfish fishing will be a(n individual) quota fishery. It is not true that we are going to empty the bottom of the sea in 2024. You will have to pass over my body before seeing that in my lifetime,” says Ms. Lebouthillier. “We will not make the mistakes of the past,” she adds.

Questioned about the presence of processing boats, Ms. Lebouthillier again insists on individual quota fishing. “It is certainly not after 30 years of closure that we are going to ensure that there is overfishing and that we close fishing for the next 30 years,” mentions the minister who doesn’t feel she upset the Quebec industry with last week’s announcements.

Fishermen fear competitive fishing, but a senior official from Fisheries and Oceans Canada mentions that no decision has been made at this time. “It could be that for each allocation, for each fleet, for an interim period, we could use a competitive fishery where all the authorized fishermen in this fleet could fish until the quota is full. This approach has not yet been decided. We are working with the committee to study the options,” says Adam Burns.

Captain-Owners are disappointed

The Captain-owners of the Gaspé Peninsula remonstrate that the minister has not yet made another announcement to improve the initial one, made at the end of January.

The director of the Captain-owners of the Gaspé Peninsula, Claudio Bernatchez, notes that the federal government’s inaction for eight years has caused chaos in the St. Lawrence and that shrimp and turbot are disappearing because of the redfish.

“The Government of Canada recognizes its inability to have adequately managed the redfish biomass since 2016 when scientists clearly stated that this species was going to have significant repercussions throughout the St. Lawrence,” says the director.

For the association, the announcement of the redfish fishery is too little too late and should have been made four years ago. Now the stakeholders do not know where they stand.

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