‘Resource health is put at risk with a quota increase,’ firm says
Ottawa estimated t he industry to be worth more than $ 60 million in 2015, when it increased the total allowable catch.
Clearwater has dominated the fishery since it opened in the late 1980s, with a monopoly others sought to break. Documents recently obtained through an access to information request reveal Clearwater’s efforts to preserve its monopoly. At one point, the company warned the government about “biased and inaccurate” information presented by companies vying to open the fishery.
In March, 2014, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans l aunched an i ndependent review of the surf clam fishery in response to “ongoing questions” about the objectivity of the scientific information used to set policy within the fishery, as well as the quality and independence of the sector’s management by the federal government.
As Clearwater vice- president Christine Penney acknowledged in a July 30, 2014, letter to the department, there was an industry suggestion “that the Department, and by inference Clearwater, acted inappropriately in the science and management process for this fishery.”
“These allegations are absolutely unfounded,” she noted.
Companies interested in the sector’s future were invited to suggest documents that would help inform the two independent reviewers.
Some of Clear water’s would-be competitors quick- ly criticized the review, suggesting that the company had helped select the reviewers. Stefan Leslie, then a Maritime regional director for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, rejected that suggestion.
In fact, Clearwater had its own concerns with the review. In a July 28, 2014, letter to then- fisheries minister Gail Shea, Clearwater CEO Ian Smith criticized the inclusion of “questionable documents at the request of companies seeking access to this fishery.” Smith claimed the integrity of the review was being “compromised.”
In a slide show detailing its “responsible” management of the surf clam fishery, Clearwater proclaimed: “System is working!” The company also said the total allowable catch should not be “artificially” increased to create room for new entrants to the surf clam fishery. “Resource health is put at risk with a quota increase,” the company argued.
Clearwater also highlighted its pioneering role in the surf clam industry, claiming it established the fishery in the mid-1980s, pioneered new markets, and invested heavily, including in a third multimillion- dollar clam vessel.
“The integrity of the independent review is being compromised by external parties seeking access to this fishery,” the company noted in the slide show documents. Clearwater argued that it would be “forced to provide counter- evidence to t he biased and inaccurate submissions of the other parties.”
Emails connected to the review also reveal the frus- tration harboured by companies shut out of the fishery. A June 20, 2014 email from the Kennedy Group, which owns Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd., a Cape Breton family- owned seafood processor, noted: “… the Kennedy Group’s battle for an Artic Surf Clam license ( sic) … continued to be delayed and ignored even when the science revealed room for new entrants.”
On Thursday, Louisbourg Seafoods welcomed the end of Clearwater’s monopoly.
Dannie Hansen, Louisbourg’s vice-president of sustainability, said the company spent a “couple ( of ) million dollars” over 10 years in fighting to break the monopoly and enter the fishery.
“I hope that they never allow that type of thing to happen in our resources again,” he said in an interview. “We went through five ministers on this. It’s time to move on … The surf clam battle is hopefully over.”
Hansen said the successful Indigenous group might partner with an outside company, but hopefully not with Clearwater. “Hopefully we may be part of it somehow,” he said.
According to Dominic LeBlanc, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the fourth licence will mark the first time an Indigenous community has participated in an offshore fishery. “Enhancing access to this fishery within the current total allowable catch provides an opportunity to broaden the access and benefits from this public resource while respecting the best available science,” he said in a statement. “Today, we are taking a powerful step toward reconciliation.”
For its part, Clearwater said it is still analyzing the government’s decision.
The company declined a request for an interview.