BFC members announce flurry of new deals

Members of the Baffin Fisheries Coalition have worked out a deal on revenue sharing, fisheries development, research, and training, within a new “memorandum of understanding” that also provides Pangnirtung Fisheries Ltd. with 250 tonnes of free turbot each year for its plant.

The memorandum of understanding, or “MOU,” is the basic legal document that keeps the organization together. As of this past Friday, all 10 members, except for the Qikiqtaaluk Corp., had signed on to the new deal.

A BFC member update also says the company is applying for the new turbot quota increase that’s available this year in area OA, or northern Davis Strait.

At the same time, members agreed to a new formula for sharing revenue from that additional quota:

* 30 per cent to a vessel acquisition fund;
* 20 per cent to a community infrastructure development fund;
* 30 per cent split equally among the five hunters and trappers organizations that are still members of the BFC;
* 20 per cent split among the private companies that belong to BFC.

The BFC’s deal with Pangnirtung Fisheries Ltd. — which is owned by Cumberland Sound Fisheries Ltd. and the Nunavut Development Corp. — appears to resolve an issue that has affected the organization since the BFC was formed in 2001.

Because Pangnirtung fishermen began the Baffin turbot fishery in the 1980s, they feel that they have a historic right to quota that’s now fished by BFC vessels.

As well, their money-losing fish plant in Pangnirtung needs to process more fish to become financially viable.

Under the deal, BFC will fish a turbot quota in area 0B (southern Davis Strait) that Cumberland Sound Fisheries Ltd. has held for several years.

A 250-tonne portion of that OB turbot harvest will then be delivered each season to the Pangnirtung fish plant.

Those fish will be gutted and have their heads cut off aboard BFC trawlers before they’re delivered to Pangnirtung for “further processing.” But it’s not clear what extra processing will be done before the fish are turned around and sold in southern markets.

The BFC also struck a deal with the Torngat Fish Producer’s Co-operative Society Ltd. of Makkovik, Labrador, a group that last year partnered with the Masiliit Corp. of Qikiqtarjuaq.

Under the agreement, BFC will harvest a 160-tonne turbot quota in area 0B held by Torngat, a 70-tonne quota held by the Labrador Inuit Development Corp., and another 270-tonne quota in the same area.

BFC vessels will offload the fish at Torngat’s fish plant in Makkovik, which has been hit hard by a decline in the cod fishery and shrinking crab quotas.

In its update to members, the BFC listed a long list of objectives for the next several years, including the following:

* more exploratory fishing;
* development of more inshore and small boat fisheries;
* recruiting more Inuit for fisheries training;
* the development of business plans and budgets;
* investment in Nunavut fishing vessels.

The BFC does not publish consolidated financial statements or an annual report, but they promise to issue more updates to keep members informed.