Federal fisheries minister ignored DFO advice by reopening commercial cod fishery
Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier ignored the advice of staff within her department when she reopened the commercial cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador in June.
A briefing note dated May 9 reveals that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans recommended maintaining the longtime moratorium on northern cod based on scientific evidence, but that political advisors within the minister’s office argued reopening the commercial fishery and hiking quotas would be “politically a victory.”
Senior policy advisor Paul Carrigan wrote that DFO staff were concerned about an increase to quotas and the return of offshore boats in the fishery, which would “increase the stocks’ risk of decline.”
According to the document, the department wanted to maintain the total allowable catch at 13,000 tonnes — the same level announced in 2022 and 2023. They also recommended the minister maintain a stewardship fishery for cod, meaning a limited fishery practised solely by inshore harvesters.
“Certainly, this option is based more on scientific advice,” reads the briefing note, which was first reported on by news website allNewfoundlandLabrador.
‘Rest assured’ in government’s approach, says minister
Lebouthillier declined an interview Monday because she was travelling to British Columbia.
“It’s important to do things right, and that’s why we are revitalizing this fishery carefully, but with optimism,” said the minister in a statement to Radio-Canada in French.
“Rest assured that I will continue to work closely with the industry, both on the harvesting and processing sides, as well as with the province’s various Indigenous communities, to ensure the sustainable development of Newfoundland and Labrador’s fisheries sector.”
‘Politics trumping science’
According to the briefing note, DFO staff presented two other potential options to the minister:
- Reopening a commercial fishery with a total allowable catch of 15,000 tonnes, with quotas distributed solely among inshore and Indigenous fish harvesters.
- Reopening a commercial fishery with a total allowable catch of 18,000 tonnes, allowing the return of offshore vessels more than 100 feet long.
DFO staff warned, however, that both options presented a higher risk of the northern cod stock returning to what the department considers the “critical zone.” While DFO announced last year, after rejigging its stock assessment framework, that northern cod has been in the cautious zone since 2016, population growth may have stalled, worrying government scientists.
Despite DFO’s concerns, political considerations appear to have won the day.
The briefing note indicates the federal Liberals’ Newfoundland and Labrador caucus, composed of the province’s six Liberal MPs, “will only support option 3, the 18,000 tonnes.”
“You should consider 20,000, which would be a political victory for N.L.,” the document continues, noting that “the N.L. caucus is united on going ahead with a commercial fishery.”
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans wanted to maintain the longtime moratorium on northern cod, based on scientific information. But federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier increased the total allowable catch from 13,000 tonnes to 18,000 tonnes, a move advisors said at the time would ‘score a political victory.’ Radio-Canada’s Patrick Butler reports.
In the end, on June 26, Lebouthillier announced the reopening of the commercial fishery and a total allowable catch of 18,000, the course of action supported by her Liberal colleagues.
“I did not and I do not believe that DFO science would recommend the policy put forth by the minister. There is a long history with this and other Canadian fisheries of politics trumping science,” said George Rose, a long-time fisheries scientist based in British Columbia, who spent 40 years studying cod. “Our fisheries continue to suffer.”
Disagreement over foreign vessels
The briefing note, as well as other documents obtained by Radio-Canada, shows Lebouthillier faced pressures from fish harvesters union Fish, Food & Allied Workers-Unifor, Indigenous groups, the offshore fleet and the processing sector to increase cod quotas.
“Most stakeholders want to the total allowable catch to be between 20,000 and 25,000 tonnes,” reads the note.
The document also highlights that in reopening a commercial cod fishery, Canada must respect a series of obligations under the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization convention. The treaty stipulates that foreign offshore boats are allowed to fish five per cent of the total allowable catch set by the Canadian government.
The FFAW and the provincial government denounced the reopening of the cod fishery to foreign trawlers, but the document says it is “impossible that NAFO will allow us to pretend that a ‘stewardship fishery’ is not a commercial fishery now that the stock is in the cautious zone.”
Broken promise
The FFAW has repeatedly criticized the federal government’s decision to allow offshore boats back into the cod fishery. The federal Liberal Party and DFO repeatedly promised that all northern cod quotas would go to inshore and Indigenous harvesters so long as the total allowable catch was less than 115,000 tonnes.
That promise was broken, in the end, to avoid a situation where foreign offshore trawlers could participate in the commercial fishery by virtue of the NAFO treaty, while Canadian offshore boats were forbidden from doing so.
Ottawa announced the cod moratorium in 1992 after years of overfishing, a decision that turned the province’s economy on its head and saw tens of thousands lose their jobs overnight.
While cod quotas jumped 46 per cent when the commercial fishery reopened in 2024, the total allowable catch of 18,000 tonnes is just a fraction of what it was in the late 1990s. In the 1960s, yearly landings surpassed 800,000 tonnes.
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