Fishing group, N.S. fisherman happy with Canada-France halibut deal

Canada and France have reached a deal to try to end a long-simmering dispute over halibut fishing on Canada’s Atlantic coast.

In exchange for a three per cent share of the Canadian quota, French fishing vessels will fish outside Canadian waters and agree to have their catch monitored.

Sylvie Lapointe, president of the Atlantic Groundfish Council, a group that represents owners of fishing vessels larger than 30 metres in the Atlantic region, called it a “reasonable” and “long-overdue” agreement.

“It’s a fair agreement but it’s taken us a long time to get here, so it’s good to actually have a conclusion to the negotiations,” said Lapointe, who noted talks started in 2016. “Of course, we always would want a lower percentage, but these are negotiations and compromises have to take place.”

According to Lapointe, French fishermen have been harvesting in Canadian waters outside the designated French fishing zone surrounding St-Pierre-Miquelon, France’s eight small islands off Newfoundland’s southern coast, and not limiting their catches.

This agreement between Canada and France will restrict where French vessels can fish and limits their catch.

“They will be allowed to fish Atlantic halibut in their own territory and also outside 200 miles, but they won’t be able to fish in Canadian waters,” said Lapointe, who is looking to federal authorities to increase monitoring and catch reporting now that there’s a formal agreement.

Shelburne fisherman Gary Dedrick is also happy there’s a deal. 

Halibut used to comprise half his catch but he’s now primarily a lobster fisherman. Despite the shift, Dedrick remains a member of the Atlantic Halibut Council.

He called the agreement “a big deal.”

“Their catch was going up all the time so without coming to some type of agreement, it was just going to get large,” said Dedrick. “They were putting more boats into it and therefore we had to try to bring that to some type of a closure.

“I think three per cent is more than fair.”

Dedrick said the agreement will mean Canadian boats no longer have to compete with French crews looking for halibut in Canadian waters.

He said the other big change would be a more stable market for halibut.

“They won’t be able to flood the market with large quantities of halibut, which was happening in the past,” said Dedrick. “They were bringing in large quantities, landing them and shipping them to the U.S. market.

“The price would just plummet as soon as that happened.”

Canadian landings of Atlantic halibut in 2022 were valued at around $70 million, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.