This will come as no surprise to anyone: the season has been catastrophic for Quebec shrimp fishermen. To compensate for the small quantities harvested here, the only two factories that still process shrimp in Quebec have purchased northern shrimp caught in Norwegian waters.
This is the only way to continue to process Quebec shrimp, believes Patrice Élément, of the Quebec Shrimp Fishermen’s Office. The Matane shrimp plant closed in March. According to Mr. Élément, if the remaining factories closed in turn, it would be a disaster for fishermen, and it would immediately mark the end of commercial shrimp fishing in Quebec.
This shrimp caught in Scandinavia travels to sea, often to Halifax, then takes the road to Gaspésie where it is thawed, processed and frozen again before heading back to the shops. The practice is not new, but has been more important and essential this year, industry representatives say.
“Quebec fishermen are not involved,” specifies Jean-Paul Gagné, general director of the Quebec Fishing Industry Association, who adds that Nordic shrimp from Norway and Quebec are identical.
Professor at the University of Quebec at Rimouski Dominique Robert also believes that Norwegian shrimp maintains the expertise for processing here.
It’s not ideal, he says, from an ecological point of view, “but we have to think about preserving our power to process seafood. It’s part of the portrait of our food sovereignty.”
Dominique Robert recalls that with initiatives like Fourchette bleue, Quebec is increasingly promoting its seafood products, which we want to consume here rather than export. “For that,” he said, “we must be able to transform our resources. A factory that closes rarely reopens. »
A season of transition
“It’s going to take us a year of transition,” says the general director of the Quebec Fishing Industry Association. Jean-Paul Gagné recalls that when cod stocks collapsed, the factories here had imported Russian cod, to continue operating before finding plan B.
Fishing industrialists risk processing other species in the short term, believes Jean-Paul Gagné, but in the meantime, imported shrimp allows them to continue their activities.
Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, is in discussions with industry representatives to find solutions, knowing that the signals are very bad for shrimp.
“We should announce good news soon to allow fishermen to be able to do what they do best, go fishing,” announced the minister on the sidelines of a press conference held in Montreal on Wednesday. Shrimp fishermen could therefore partly continue their activities, but perhaps by harvesting other species. We obviously think of redfish, which are massively back in the gulf. Exploratory fishing was permitted this year, ending a moratorium of almost 30 years.
Among Minister Lebouthillier’s priorities: doing eco-responsible fishing and giving added value to local seafood products. Also think about including aquaculture in the equation.
But for shrimp caught at sea, the forecasts are gloomy, also says the minister who was the one who announced the draconian reductions in shrimp fishing rights at the start of the year, creating a shock wave in the industry.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
When it goes down, it goes down. You have to make decisions. Difficult decisions because it is for the future.
Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
In Canada, quotas operate by species, explains Professor Dominique Robert.
“The fishermen paid a very high price for these quotas,” he said. The great danger of this system is that many fishermen only have quotas for one species. If their species collapses, so does the value of their quota. »
Shrimp fishermen are of course interested in redfish fishing as a replacement, but the value of the fish is well below that of the shrimp.
Farewell to shrimp
Shrimp fishing is ending these days. In Quebec, northern shrimp are fished mainly in the Sept-Îles region, followed by Anticosti Island and the St. Lawrence estuary.
This year, fishermen preferred not to go out to sea, because it was not profitable, the quantities harvested were not sufficient.
There is a lack of interest from the flotilla. Fishermen have decided to cease their activities. It’s a very bad season and it signals the end of this fishery.
Dominique Robert, professor at the University of Quebec at Rimouski
Conditions are simply no longer favorable for shrimp here, explains Mr. Robert. Redfish predation is reducing shrimp stocks, but warming waters are catastrophic for this cold-loving species.
Winters without ice formation, like last winter, prevent the regeneration of a cold layer. Result: the shrimp’s habitat diminishes and contains less oxygen.
Turbot and snow crab are also affected by rapid changes in the waters, specifies the professor from the Rimouski Institute of Marine Sciences.
“There will always be small refuges of cold water in certain places, especially on the North Shore, because the Labrador Current goes down there, so there will always be cold water. But not sufficient quantities for commercial fishing. »
Dominique Robert is categorical: we must consider the end of commercial shrimp fishing.
Questioned about this inevitability, Minister Diane Lebouthillier reiterates the importance of first protecting the species.
“We have to do things well for future generations,” insists the minister. I think of my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren and I would like them to be able to eat wild products like we can eat them. »