Wanting in
Processor wants Arctic surf clam fishery open to the ‘little fella’
Professor wants clam fishery open to ‘little fella’
The largest processor of seafood in Cape Breton continues to lobby the federal government for a piece of the Arctic surf clam fishery.
Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd. wanted to bid for one of the licences that would have become available under the former Conservative government’s decision to increase the total allowable catch for the crustacean.
Last July, a catch limit increase for offshore Arctic surf clam was announced. It was expected to jump from 38,756 tonnes to 52,655 tonnes on the Banquereau Bank and Grand Bank for 2016.
However, following the Liberals’ election win last fall then-fisheries minister Hunter Tootoo decided to keep the catch limit unchanged.
The government indicated in December “managing fisheries based on robust scientific evidence is a priority” when it decided to maintain the total allowable catch at its current level of 38,756 tonnes.
Dannie Hanson, Louisbourg Seafoods’s vice-president of sustainability, said his company has been pushing Ottawa to open up the fishery for the past decade. There are currently three licences for Arctic surf clam and they all belong to Clearwater Seafoods.
Hanson said Louisbourg Seafoods was looking for a 6,000- to 8,000-tonne quota to fish on the Banquereau Bank.
Opening up Clearwater Seafood’s monopoly on the fishery would result in the creation of 140 jobs at Louisbourg Seafood’s processing plant in North Sydney, Hansen said.
“The big companies cannot be bullies to the small companies and hold us down,” Hansen said.
“Once you say you need more science and the big boys say you need more science, the public thinks the little fellas are wanting to demand too much of the species. But it’s not true.”