A report on Atlantic Canada’s lobster fishery issued in July by the Canadian Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) says that a new management plan is needed to prevent the collapse of the fishery.
Reaction among fishermen in the Maritimes has been that it’s all well and good for the FRCC to make recommendations, but who’s going to pay for them? And at least one fishermen’s organization believes that the report itself is flawed in many areas.
Ed Frenette, executive director of the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA), says that a major problem is that the FRCC concentrated on a few small geographic areas and then drew “broad, sweeping” general conclusions.
“We don’t agree with that,” he said. “It’s no secret that the Northumberland Strait is a lot different from, say, southwest Nova Scotia. This is not a case of one size fits all.”
Frenette added, “They [FRCC] also said that the industry ignored the 1995 report and did nothing. We certainly disagree with that.”
Frenette said he was “frankly baffled by the broad statements” in the report, and that it left him “reading between the lines.”
He was particularly concerned, he said, about “the reference to ITQs [Individual Transferable Quotas]. “As you know, this is a major issue for the east coast of Canada. Reality just doesn’t support the idea of ITQs particularly for the inshore fishery. Furthermore, we regard them as dangerous to the future of our coastline communities.”
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has repeatedly proposed ITQs, and opponents across the Maritimes have consistently maintained that such quotas would concentrate profits in the hands of a few.
In presenting the report, “Sustainability Framework for the Atlantic Lobster,” FRCC Chairman Jean Guy d’Entremont said, “The core message is that there are high risks associated with the current fisheries strategy in many areas on the east coast of Canada. The FRCC believes that it is very important for the industry to adjust and control fishing effort to maintain balance with the available resource. Many factors — higher fishing costs, larger vessels, etc.– have exacerbated the pressure for additional landings and are becoming threats to sustainability of the lobster fishery.”
Besides ITQs the report’s recommendations include a shorter season, reducing trap limits, more scientific study and monitoring of illegal fishing.
On the question of who’s going to pay for all the changes, including buyouts of licenses, Frenette said, “What they [FRCC] seem to be saying is that the industry pays for everything. I didn’t see any recommendations that the federal government increase the science allocation to DFO. I didn’t see any recommendations to increase the allocation to protection and enforcement. Is industry going to pay for everything? You’re not going to have very much of an industry left.”
Frenette concluded, “We look forward to meetings among our own fishermen and with DFO,” adding that he expected meetings to continue all winter, “maybe even longer.”