Fishermen, doubly penalized by an increase in the price of fuel and a reduction in their quotas, need a price that covers all their expenses.
Slowed down by the pandemic and the weak recovery in catering, the international northern shrimp market would not allow processors to offer this price without mortgaging the profitability of plants.
Even if the exchanges continue, the spokesperson for the factories and the general manager of the Association québécoise des Industriels de la Pêche (AQIP), Jean-Paul Gagné, believes that the industry will need the help of the MAPAQ to reach an agreement.
The processors explain that the market does not allow them to offer a price that will cover the expenses of the fishermen.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Joane Bérubé
The observation is the same on the side of the fishermen.
The director of the Quebec Shrimp Fishermen’s Office, Patrice Element, confirms that approaches have been made to the MAPAQ and DFO. We have reached the point, he said, where we are calling on the levels of government to ask for temporary support to have a season.
According to Mr. Element, in Quebec, ministry officials are listening and monitoring the situation closely. Relations are more blurred with the DFO. We did not have, he said, many proposals or feedback that we consider positive to save the season.
In the meantime, the arbitration between the parties scheduled for Thursday before the Agricultural Market Board has been postponed by mutual agreement to May 19.
A worried mayor, a wait-and-see minister
The mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté, is not reassured. More than 20 companies depend directly and indirectly on the shrimp industry in the Rivière-au-Renard and L’Anse-au-Griffon sectors.
he said. Hundreds of jobs depend on it. These are tens of millions of dollars in the economy of Gaspé, as mayor of Gaspé, that concerns me enormously and I want there to be concrete actions.
The mayor is therefore asking the governments of Quebec and Canada to act quickly to save the shrimp fishing season.
Among other things, Daniel Côté wants Fisheries and Oceans to revise the reduction in quotas imposed this year. This reduction, of 12% this year and 18% next year, goes beyond the criteria normally used by Fisheries and Oceans to protect the resource.
The mayor also wonders how the fishermen could be compensated for the cost of fuel. People will tell me that it’s the same throughout the industry, but shrimpers are special, they drag big, big trawls behind them, they are big consumers of fuel
, notes the mayor. Mr. Côté gives the example of refueling a shrimp boat which cost $150,000 last year and which this year costs more than $300,000.
Some shrimpers will pay up to $300,000 to refuel due to rising prices.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Joane Bérubé
Arrested at the end of the week, during his visit to the Magdalen Islands, for the start of the lobster fishery, the Minister of Fisheries, André Lamontagne, did not want to interfere in the negotiations for the moment. In progress.
He still hopes the parties will come to an agreement. For the moment, help, in the form of an emergency fund, has not been planned
says the minister.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca