Northern shrimp lovers may soon no longer find a Gaspésie product in their refrigerators as next fishing quotas risk being severely restricted by the historic decline of the resource in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• Also read: Gulf of Saint Lawrence: warming of surface waters by three degrees
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has to set the next fishing quotas no later than January, but the industry is already expecting the worst.
Last year only 14,500 tonnes of shrimp could be caught in the Gulf, compared to around 30,000 tonnes ten years ago.
Many fishermen assume they will only be entitled to a few thousand tonnes next year, meaning very little profit.
A “perfect storm” is hitting the northern shrimp ecosystem with warmer waters and the proliferation of redfish, a shrimp predator.
“In a few years we will say that an ecological catastrophe is unfolding in the river,” says the general director of the Association of Captains and Owners of Gaspésie, Claudio Bernatchez. “What we have not yet clearly admitted is that the government is not listening to its own scientists.”
According to him, as early as 2016, the DFO’s scientific advice was concerned about the presence of redfish in the Gulf and its impact on shrimp stocks.
Early last year, fishermen returned to the dock because they couldn’t catch enough shrimp to make their business profitable. Photo provided by Vincent Dupuis
DFO biologist Hugo Bourdages believes the department has respected scientific advice, but it is time to authorize commercial red snapper fisheries because the population has reached a maturity that is attractive to the market.
“Economic catastrophe”
At the top of Gaspé there are 1000 to 1200 jobs that depend directly on fishing, recalls the mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté.
“The effect is also noticeable among restaurateurs, hardware stores and grocers,” he adds.
Daniel Côté is mayor of Gaspé. Photo Stevens LeBlanc
The impact is so great that the MRC of La Côte-de-Gaspé and the city have combined “to offer psychological and financial services” to fishermen and their families.
In the Matane region, this decline in populations even raises questions of identity.
“Shrimp is in our DNA,” says Matanie Economic Development Director General Jean Langelier. “We will no longer be able to bring people into the region who only consume shrimp.”
In his opinion, it is also an “economic catastrophe” that is hitting the region and is particularly affecting the youngest fishermen, who are more indebted.
“The hope for northern shrimp in the Gulf is that they will find favorable conditions,” says Hugo Bourdages, who does not believe the situation will improve in the short or medium term.
Redfish are invading the Gulf
The estimated biomass of red snapper in the Gulf today is about 3 million tons, explains DFO biologist Hugo Bourdages.
“Before 2010 we were talking about a biomass of less than 100,000 tons, so it increased by a factor of 30!”
However, there is a fishing moratorium on this fish.
“The failure of a life” for a Gaspé fisherman
After fishing northern shrimp for more than 40 years, Vincent Dupuis doesn’t know what he will do next season and expects there will be several bankruptcies around him.
“I’ve been fishing all my life, but now I think I have to look for another job,” says the man from Rivière-au-Renard in Gaspésie. “I feel like my whole life is a failure. It is not easy.”
Mr Dupuis, a third-generation shrimp fisherman who has been at sea since he was 14, agrees that the current crisis is exceptional.
Vincent Dupuis has been fishing shrimp since he was 14, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Photo provided by Vincent Dupuis
“There were always ups and downs […]“But today we can no longer rely on old stories from the past,” summarizes the man for whom shrimp fishing has not been profitable for at least two years.
He fears that reducing Gulf of St. Lawrence quotas to a few thousand tons will be the death knell for other captains like him in the region.
“At around 1,500 tons, it would not even be enough to ensure the operation of a single processing plant,” explains Dupuis, who attributes the current situation primarily to “poor inventory management” by the government.
“We always say that the fisherman is to blame for emptying the sea, but there is management of this fishery!” he complains. “We had a strange management of the resource and today we are facing major problems.”
To those who tell him to reinvent himself, Vincent Dupuis replies that the transition from one fishery to another is not easy and requires new quotas approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
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