The crab from the estuary has arrived on the stalls of fishmongers. This is not yet the case for the one in the southern gulf. The crabbers await the signal to send off from the Minister of Fisheries. All Quebec and Maritimes fleets will leave at the same time. This way of doing things is increasingly contested by Quebec crabbers.
Due to the current of ice in Chaleur Bay, the wharves on the Gaspé side are in open water long before those in New Brunswick, where the majority of crabbers come from.
The traditional Gaspésie crabbers, the Magdalen Islands and Aboriginal fleets might therefore leave before their New Brunswick colleagues. This is what they have been asking for for years.
The arrival of the right whale in late April in gulf waters came to put additional pressure.
To protect the whaleendangered, DFO has instituted a process of closing fishing areas.
The measure obliges crabbers to remove all their traps when a whale is seen in order to avoid entanglements. Initially, these closures are 15 days, but they can extend throughout the fishing season.
© Joane Bérubé/Radio-Canada
Area 12 crabbers must combine with the early spring presence of right whales.
In 2019, fishing in the southern Gulf was launched only in the first week of May when areas were already closed to fishing.
Last year, crabbers from the southern gulf went out April 3, a first.
Before the whale arrives
The departure of the crabbers from zone 12 has become a race once morest time, observes Robert Nicolas, editor-in-chief of Pêches Impact and director of the School-Industry Office of the School of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Quebec.
This year, the winter was cold and freezing.
Ice is still present in many New Brunswick wharves, reports the editor of Fisheries Impact. Icebreaking operations are underway, but accumulations remain significant at the mouth of certain harbours.
© Joane Bérubé/Radio-Canada
This year, the Minister has increased the volume of catches. After suffering a decline last year, crabbers in the southern Gulf will share 32,519 t. in 2022.
On March 25, the Minister of Fisheries of Quebec, André Lamontagne, wrote to the federal Minister of Fisheries to ask her for a modulation of departures.
(…) in the event that certain fishing ports are not de-iced, we still ask that fishing be allowed to begin for fishermen whose ports are ice-free. (…) a few days delay for certain fishermen’s sea trips would have little or no impact, whether in terms of landed prices, volumes and quality of crab.
Robert Nicolas observes that the directives of the ministry, published in 2021, authorize the minister to respond favorably to the request of Minister Lamontagne.
As described in the Snow Crab Fishery Opening Date Committee Terms of Reference, considerations for targeted opening date triggers include:
- The southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (including Baie des Chaleurs) is ice-free and fishing can take place safely.
- Fishing might open even if docks are not completely de-iced.
Economic issues
The question therefore seems simple to settle, but it raises important economic issues, explains Robert Nicolas.
This year, the Minister has increased the volume of catches. After suffering a decline last year, crabbers in the southern Gulf 32,519 t will be shared. in 2022.
Traditional crabbers will receive an individual quota between 280,000 and 300,000 pounds. As landed prices are at historic levels, catches might translate, according to Robert Nicolas, into revenues of 1.5 to 2 million per fishing company.
He recalls that with spinoffs of several hundred million dollars, the snow crab fishery is one of the most lucrative in Atlantic Canada.
© / Radio-Canada
This year, at the start of the fishing season, a pound of crab is selling 20% more than last year in fish markets.
A departure one or two weeks before the crabbers from New Brunswick would favor crabbers from the Magdalen Islands and the Gaspé, points out Robert Nicolas: We like to get to the markets as soon as possible. If ever the Gaspésiens and the Madelinots arrived two weeks in advance on the markets, that might have an impact on the financial aspect. »
This would be all the more unfair, continues Mr. Nicolas, because of the water temperature, the first weeks of fishing are the best. The advantage would be even greater for the Quebec fleet if the whales caused area closures before the crabbers left the Maritimes.
The lobby of the Maritime provinces, both on the capture and processing side, is therefore opposed to different dates. New Brunswick leads the crab fishery“recalls Robert Nicolas.
He notes that if it were the Quebec fishermen who were in the opposite situation, the industry would not act any differently than that of Atlantic Canada.
Environmental issues
It would therefore not be a good idea for reasons of fairness between the crabbers.
Still according to Robert Nicolas, it might however be one for the protection of whales. If we want to limit, he says, interactions with right whales as much as possible, why not allow fishing to those who are ready or when the winning conditions are all met? On the one hand, it would reduce fishing effort at the same time, because not all the fleets would be active at the same time, the risk of collision with the whales would be much lower. »
© New England Aquarium
There are only 366 right whales left in the world, according to the latest estimates from the New England Aquarium
Observer of the world of fisheries for thirty years, Robert Nicolas, believes that the economic aspect seems to weigh much more in the end than the protection of the right whale in the decision of a common departure or not.
Answer?
More than a week has passed without Minister Joyce Murray responding to Minister Lamontagne. However, in the ports of New Brunswick, we are busy this week to free the ports from the ice.
The question of the date therefore remains open.
In Gaspésie, the launch in Newport, Sainte-Thérèse and Grande-Rivière is not over, says Robert Nicolas.
The most optimistic spoke of a departure for the end of the week. A snowstorm is coming. Perhaps like the resurrection, the first Area 12 crabs will arrive on Easter.