Federal minister resists calls to shut down Atlantic lobster fishery

The federal fisheries minister is resisting calls to close the Atlantic Canadian lobster fishery down completely this year in response to COVID-19.

The pandemic shut down the market for luxury food on cruise ships and in restaurants, leading to the collapse of sales in Asian markets and leaving a glut of inventory that has increased with the lobster fishery ongoing in southwestern Nova Scotia.

Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton on Friday that a closure is not in the cards.

"There have been absolutely no closures in the fishery," said Jordan, the Liberal MP for South Shore-St. Margaret's. "We have not looked at that.

"There have been a handful of delays that have been asked for, but at this point the plan still is to open all fisheries."

Leonard LeBlanc, a retired fisherman who represents active ones on the board of the Gulf of Nova Scotia Fishermen's Coalition, said his group plans to ask the minister to shut down the lobster fishery this year in its area off northern Cape Breton, where the season would normally open in the next month or so.

"In the climate we're in, having a lobster fishery is not what we should be doing," he said.

Financial aid needed

A coronavirus infection for one crew member could quarantine an entire boat and possibly other boats, a wharf and a processing plant for two weeks, said LeBlanc.

"The negative sides completely outweigh the positive sides and we would rather err on the side of cautious," he said. "We value our members. We value our communities, and the best thing I think we can do is stay home."

LeBlanc said a proposal seeking financial aid in the event of a closure is being drafted. If approved by the board's membership, it will go to the federal government.

Jordan said decisions on whether to fish and when are made after extensive consultation with harvesters.

"We think it's extremely important to keep the fisheries open, because we rely on that food supply," she said.

"We rely on the food chain. We rely on the employment that it brings to areas and I think it's extremely important that we continue to allow fishers to fish."

It is up to each individual area to determine if fishermen want a delay or to stay on shore, she said.

The federal government is looking at ways to address the export market collapse by developing a larger domestic market, the minister said, and federal aid initiatives such as the emergency response benefit and 75 per cent wage subsidy will help harvesters in the meantime.

Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries in Neils Harbour, N.S., said his fish processing plant — 100 per cent owned by fish harvesters — is spending a lot of time and money on preparations designed to reduce the chance of COVID-19 spread.

He said there is no need to cancel the lobster fishery, but in addition to changes on the dock and in the processing plant, fishing crews will have to take steps to reduce contact on board as much as possible to satisfy health and safety concerns.

Reduced fishing effort needed

Also, there are measures the government can take to ease concerns about a glut in inventory, Burke said.

The federal fisheries minister can shut down the southwest Nova Scotia fishery a couple of weeks early, delay the start of the season in other areas by a couple of weeks and order a reduction in the number of traps in the water, he said.

"If that's to be implemented, she and her department has to implement that and make it the rule for all [lobster fishing areas]," Burke said.

"We need to make the best of it and get people employed and work with the harvesters more than ever and we have to have some reduction of [fishing] effort."