Shrimp harvesters in parts of Newfoundland and Quebec gained an overall 29 percent increase in quota for this year, including a new quota earmarked to generate funds for scientific research. While the increase is welcomed by harvesters and processors in the region, considered in the context of other fisheries and the global shrimp market, it is not entirely a windfall.
“This is one of the best news stories in the Atlantic Canada fishery,” Robert G. Thibault, minister of Fisheries and Oceans said in late May when he announced the rise in the total allowable catch of northern shrimp by 34,260 metric tons. The TAC for 2003 will be 152,102 tons, including an increase of 7,800 MT for the small boat harvesters in southern Labrador, the northern portion of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula and the Lower North Shore of Quebec.
However, the increase comes at a time when shrimp is plentiful in the marketplace, prices are low, much of the region’s cod fishery has been shut down and crab fishermen in some areas of Newfoundland and Labrador are facing deep cuts in the more lucrative crab fishery.
“Even with an increase in the quota by 34,260 MT to a TAC of 152,102 MT, the exploitation rates are low in this healthy and abundant resource,” said Minister Thibault, adding that a significant portion of the shrimp increase will be allocated to inshore mobile gear fleets, which will portion their shares according to the greatest need.
“These allocations will be managed by existing allocation/license holders for the direct benefit of core small boat fishers affected by the recent declines in the cod and crab fisheries in these areas,” said Thibault.
All regions will not enjoy an increase, however. The shrimp fishery in the Esquiman Channel area in the Gulf of St. Lawrence received a 20 percent cut in allocation, for a total allowable catch (TAC) of 6,674 tons in this area between the northwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and the North Shore of Quebec. With the decline in other fisheries and participation in the shrimp industry already high, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has been under pressure to grant more licenses and many license-holders have called for quota increases, forcing Thibault into “difficult decisions.”
“We must maintain some stability in the fishery so that industry can adjust to changing circumstances,” he said.
The northern shrimp fishery expanded dramatically since the 37,600 ton TAC in 1996. Landings were valued at $245 million last year. Some of the increase represents a new three-year scientific initiative where a quota of 3,625 tons will be used to generate funds to carry out research in northern shrimp areas where none is being conducted now. The research will be done in two Labrador regions called Fishing Areas 4 and 5 by the DFO, where the fishermen are all members of the Innu Nation. A working group will be established to develop a protocol for managing the project.
“More scientific information in this fishing area will provide us with better information on which to base future catch levels. In the case of southern shrimp fishing areas east of Newfoundland and Labrador (SFA 5, 6 and 7), solid science research has paid dividends in the form of larger TACs by providing a better understanding of the strength of the resource,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the high-value snow crab fishery is facing uncertainty. In some regions, managers are unsure about the size of the stock or why small male crabs often fail to grow to maturity. Catches remain high in most areas – the overall crab fishery for Newfoundland and Labrador was valued at $435 million (Canadian) in 2002 – and Thibault announced a TAC of nearly the same size as last year, down by around 741 tons to 56,240 tons.
“Conservation is our primary concern,” said Thibault, adding that the DFO is responding to requests from fishermen for the DFO to do everything necessary to maintain the health of the stock. However, the small cuts in the TAC mean large cuts for some harvesters. Two fishing regions – one off Labrador and the other off southern Newfoundland – are facing cuts of 40 percent and 20 percent respectively. Industry watchers fear this represents a trend, since the catch per unit of effort (CPUE) has been dropping since 1998 for a total of 60 percent in the affected Labrador region. Although the percentage of change in the CPUE is not known because of a lack of research in the southern Newfoundland fishery region, managers know there has been a decline.
Since the economies in both areas have been affected seriously by declines in other fisheries – primarily cod – the Fish Food and Allied Workers (FFAW) union is asking the minister to open exploratory fisheries for other species. For cod, the staple of the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery for hundreds of years and in some cases the only fishery, the news is not good. Stocks have failed to rebuild to commercial levels enjoyed before stocks crashed and a moratorium was declared in 1992. In the ensuing 13 years, some pockets of cod stocks have increased – although nowhere near historic levels – and others have increased somewhat and declined again. The Northern cod has been slowest to recover. The failure of cod stocks caused devastation in Newfoundland communities, including a decrease in the population. The Canadian government spent $3.9 billion (Canadian) for income support, economic development projects and other industry adjustment measures due to the cod collapse between 1992 and 2001.
In late April, Thibault announced total closures of three cod fisheries – one in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and two in northeast Newfoundland and Labrador. Scientists said the stocks are at “historically low levels and show no signs of imminent recovery despite a decade of severe conservation measures.” Fishermen were furious at the closures and nearly as furious when members of the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council urged Thibault not to close the cod fisheries, but to cut the quotas severely – by half in some areas, close the recreational fishery entirely and protect the cod during spawning season.
The fisheries union organized meetings in affected communities where residents angrily denounced the potential cuts. Some communities say they will be left with only seals and lobsters to harvest, and lobsters in Newfoundland are harvested for a very short season. Although fishermen are anxious to cull seals, the market for sealskins and meat is volatile and sometimes unprofitable. Harvesters supported the FRCC recommendation to increase the cull of the seal herd, however.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial fisheries minister, Yvonne Jones, criticized the FRCC’s proposal for a reduced cod TAC and its recommendation to maintain the low, 3,500-ton quota for five years. Jones, the first woman and the first native to be appointed fisheries minister, said, “fishers and the union have stated very clearly that if the quota fell below 4,000 tons to 5,000 tons, it would be impossible to make a living… for many fishers and plant workers.”
With cod quotas cut and some crab quotas chopped, the increase in the shrimp quota looks like a life-saver for some harvesters and plant workers in the affected regions of Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The shrimp quota increases certainly will bring harvesters and plant workers more work, but possibly not much more money, due to an abundance of farmed shrimp. A study released in mid-June by IntraFish, a Norwegian seafood media company, said shrimp prices are at an “historical low” and the product is plentiful everywhere, due to a glut of farmed shrimp all over the world. U.S. import companies brought in 946 million pounds of shrimp worth $3.4 billion US last year, a volume increase of 7 percent over 2001 and 34 percent of the nation’s total edible imports. Imports of farmed shrimp to the U.S. have increased by 30 percent since 1999. DFO officials say the early months of 2003 saw a slight increase in the price per ton in the early months of 2003, but the price only reached $2,600 (Canadian) per ton, still far below the average of $3,900 per ton between 1988 and 1998.
For more on this topic, see the July Issue of Working Waterfront