QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
Shrimp Industry
June 4, 2024
Thank you for joining us today, minister. It will come as no surprise to you that many fisheries in Eastern Quebec and the Maritimes are struggling. Times are especially hard for fishers, plant workers and people in the shrimp sector.
The closure of Eastern Seafood came as a shock to Matane and the entire region. Technically, half of the shrimp fishing businesses in the Quebec fleet are bankrupt. According to Patrice Element, director of the Office des pêcheurs de crevette du Québec, the biomass will not return.
I know, minister, that you’re working very hard to find solutions for the shrimpers, but in the circumstances, the time has come to let people interested in leaving the industry leave. In the past, when moratoriums were announced, the federal government set up license buyback programs and industry restructuring measures.
Does your department realize that unless quick action is taken, dozens of families will be condemned to a life of poverty and economic fragility?
I’ve been in close contact with shrimp fishers, so I can tell you that, since 2016, global warming has caused declining shrimp stocks in the gulf.
Had I listened to the fishers this year, they wanted to maintain the status quo from two or three years ago. What we saw last year was that there were no more shrimp in the gulf, or hardly any. Attempts were made this year. These boats have their nets in the water for six hours and bring in 150 pounds of shrimp. Things aren’t going well in the gulf because of global warming, and the same goes for other species, too.
I felt it was important to look at opening the redfish fishery to let shrimp fishers take advantage of that reopened fishery and develop it into a value-added product.
Thank you. I think we all recognize that shrimp stocks are not going to recover any time soon. That is why I think it’s vital to help fishers, processors and, above all, plant workers to retrain.
How does the minister plan to respond to this challenge?
When it comes to retraining, there is money in the Canada’s fisheries funds to help fishers retrain in other fisheries. I’m very concerned right now about the next generation of fishers given how much fishing licenses cost these days and because there are young people who have gone deep into debt. I’m currently in discussions with colleagues in fisheries committees to ensure that we have a next generation of fishers.
