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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 11
July 2009
Canada announces $65 million lobster industry aid plan
OTTAWA, CANADA – The federal government of Canada has announced a five-year, C$65 million (US$58 million) financial assistance plan to support lobstermen who have been impacted by the global collapse of lobster prices.
“Our government stands on the side of affected fishers and families whose livelihoods depend on the lobster industry,” said Gail Shea, Canada’s minister of fisheries and oceans, who announced the plan on June 10. “The circumstances affecting the lobster industry are unique and lobster fishers had nothing to do with the collapse in lobster prices.”
The 2008 export value of Canadian lobsters was just shy of C$1 billion.
Of the $65 million, $15 million will be provided for “short-term transitional contributions” to assist qualified low-income harvesters severely harmed by “the collapse in market demand for their products due to the global recession.”
In order to qualify for this assistance, applicants must: be “lobster-dependent” fishermen; have earned income from lobster fishing in both 2008 and 2009; and have experienced a decline of income from lobster landings of 25% or more in 2009. This program will be available only for the 2009 fishing season.
Response to the short-term assistance was less than positive. Many lobstermen posted comments on media web sites saying the payouts would be too low to really help people on the verge of losing their boats and homes.
According to the Fish, Food, and Allied Workers, an affiliate of the Canadian AutoWorkers Union, prices paid to Atlantic Canada lobstermen as of June 10 were the lowest in decades at less than C$3 per pound (US$2.68). The union has been pushing for the federal government to change qualification criteria to allow lobstermen to collect unemployment insurance payments.
Those from outside the industry heavily criticized the plan, pointing out that people in many lines of work were losing their jobs and not getting a bailout.
Consumers posting comments found it hard to believe that lobsters were still so expensive at the retail level when lobstermen were being paid such low prices.
Long-term
The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it intends to “invest” the remaining $50 million “in Atlantic lobster sustainability measures to support those in the industry who develop and implement long-term sustainability plans.”
Of that amount, $35 million will be spent over five years to enhance conservation, reduce effort, possibly through vessel/permit buyouts, and help meet “eco-certification” requirements.
“Sustainability plans … will be designed to meet the growing market requirements for eco-certification as detailed by the Marine Stewardship Council’s ‘Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing’ and the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council,” the Harper government stated.
“In order to meet the emerging eco-certification requirements of the global seafood market, the Atlantic lobster industry likely will have to demonstrate that overall fishing pressures on the resource are sustainable over the long term,” the statement continued. “In 2009, the industry group Atlantic Alliance for Fisheries Renewal set an overall target of 30% effort reduction across Atlantic Canada and Quebec.”
The remaining $15 million is designated to fund development of sustainability plans for “low income areas.” These are defined as lobster fishing areas (LFAs) where dependence on income from lobstering is high and where landings have been low. According to the Harper government, approximately 25% of Atlantic Canada’s LFAs fall into this category.
More detailed information on Canada’s lobster economic assistance plan is available online at <www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca>. /cfn/
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