Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for having us today to talk about the minister's recent decisions on unit 1 redfish and the shrimp fishery in the estuary in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
My name is Adam Burns, assistant deputy minister of the Program Sector responsible for fisheries and harbour management at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
I'd like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we are meeting is the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe. The peoples of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation have lived on this territory for millennia, and their culture and presence have nurtured and continue to nurture this land.
The recent increase in redfish biomass and the move to a commercial fishery is a good news story, but not without its challenges. The reopening of the fishery offers a unique opportunity to do things differently given the socio-economic changes since the moratorium, particularly with respect to advancing indigenous reconciliation.
The department undertook consultations in 2021 and 2022 with indigenous groups and a range of stakeholders from eastern Canada. Participants were offered several opportunities to provide views on access, allocation and the principles they believed were important for the minister to consider in her decision.
There is no defined mechanism in DFO policies to rank or weigh the various criteria in access and allocation decisions. However, with the adoption of the amended Fisheries Act in 2019, the considerations for deciding on an access and allocation key (among possible others) are contained directly in legislation.
The minister's decision delivers on the commitment to indigenous reconciliation. It respects and maintains the inshore and midshore mobile fleets' historical access, and it provides 10% allocation to estuary and gulf shrimpers to contribute to the fleets' adjustments in response to the significant declines in that fishery.
In terms of next steps, there is more work to be done to operationalize the Unit 1 fishery for the upcoming season.
The department will meet with the redfish advisory committee in March to discussion recommendations for the total allowable catch, bycatch and other management measures as well as the sharing of the inshore mobile gear fleet and indigenous allocations.
Groundfish and shrimp fisheries in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence have been intimately linked for decades. In 2022, shrimpers’ income was at the lowest level in thirteen years, and operating costs (fuel prices and wage increases) were at their highest. This negatively influenced the profitability of the fishery and the viability of the industry.
The 2023 season was very difficult. Catch rates in the most frequented fishing areas were less than 40% of the previous year. In response to continued declines, the 2024 total allowable catch was reduced to 3,060 tonnes, a 79% reduction.
Northern shrimp is a cold-water species. With warming and oxygen depletion in deep waters, shrimp are exposed to increasingly unfavourable environmental conditions. Notably, redfish predation on shrimp has increased significantly since 2017 and is considered to be a factor in the decline of shrimp. The total estimated biomass of redfish in the gulf was less than 100,000 tonnes in 2013, and, by 2021, the biomass was 2.8 million tonnes.
Until 2020, reductions in shrimp were partly mitigated by higher prices. Low fishing yields combined with very high operating costs, exacerbated by COVID-19 and inflation, have created major profitability challenges for this specialized and undiversified fleet.
The status of shrimp stocks is not expected to improve. Since shrimp play a key role as a forage species in the ecosystem, caution needs to be exercised when exploiting this resource.
The department is working diligently to address the various challenges in both the gulf shrimp and the unit 1 redfish fisheries.
We'd be happy to take your questions.