Nunavut feels short-changed on shrimp quota increase

Thousands of tonnes and millions of dollars worth of shrimp lie in the frigid waters of the Davis Strait off Nunavut, but fishing companies in the Atlantic provinces take the lion’s share of this bounty.

And the Department of Fisheries and Oceans doesn’t apparently intend to change this state of affairs.

Last week, the Government of Nunavut learned the DFO plans to share a 4,250-tonne increase in this year’s quota for northern shrimp among Nunavut, Nunavik and 14 license holders to the South.

This means Nunavut ends up with two-thirds of the increase, that is, 2,833 tonnes; Nunavik gets about nine per cent or 374 tonnes, and the balance, 1,043 tonnes, goes to other license holders.

“We’re not happy,” said Olayuk Akesuk, Nunavut’s minister of environment. “Any other jurisdiction would get 80 to 90 per cent of the increase. We’re trying to start up a fishing industry here in Nunavut and we still end up with 67 per cent. We’re not satisfied.”

Akesuk is also frustrated because southern license holders generally don’t land their entire allowable catch of shrimp.

“If they gave us 80 to 90 per cent [of the increase], we could have used that. I think it’s something that is wasted. We could use that 1,000 tonnes: they won’t even use it,” Akesuk said.

The shrimp Nunavut wants more of are found in an area the DFO calls Shrimp Fishing Area (SFA) 1, a joint Greenland-Canada shrimp stock, of which Canada gets 17 per cent.

In May, the GN made its pitch for Nunavut to receive all of any quota increase in SFA 1, a move that would increase Nunavut’s total share of the shrimp in SFA 1 from 26 per cent to 35 per cent.

Two weeks ago, when Akesuk met the federal fisheries minister, Geoff Regan, in Whitehorse, Yukon, he again argued that the Maritime provinces have 80 to 90 per cent of the control of their marine resources, so Nunavut should have the same.

If Nunavut had a similar stake in shrimp in its waters, its shrimp fishery would be worth more than $90 million a year: a larger fishery would create jobs and reduce unemployment.

But Akesuk said Reagan told him the DFO was going to respect the other fisheries in Canada and their existing claims to quotas.

As ammunition in its battle for shrimp, to support Nunavut’s access to the northern shrimp in SFA 1, the GN can cite various policies, documents and statements, including the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement as well as the last throne speech.

In 2002, the Independent Panel on Access Criteria in Fisheries recommended Nunavut get 100 per cent of any future quota increases.

“No additional access should be granted to non-Nunavut interests in waters adjacent to Nunavut until the territory has achieved access to a major share of its adjacent fishery resources,” the report says.

But in May 2003, Nunavut only received 51 per cent of the increase — causing the GN to take the federal government to court.

Akesuk wouldn’t rule out another court challenge by the GN over who gets the shrimp quota increase in SFA 1. He said the GN, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board are meeting this week to see what the next step will be.