Snow crab quota jumps 30% for 2022 season
CBC
The quota for Newfoundland and Labrador's snow crab fishery is increasing by over 30 per cent for the 2022 season, adding to momentum in the province's most lucrative fishery.
Federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray announced Thursday the total allowable catch for snow crab will increase to 50,470 tonnes, a 32 per cent increase from last year's quota of 38,186 tonnes.
"The fish and seafood sector is incredibly important to Newfoundland and Labrador, and all of Atlantic Canada. I am committed to helping it grow for future generations," Murray said in a news release.
Murray said the management approach of the fishery is aimed at balancing economic growth in coastal communities and the fishery with regenerating the snow crab population.
While a price for snow crab has yet to be decided, a decision is expected by Monday. The Association of Seafood Producers has asked for a price of $7.60 per pound, while the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union has asked for $9.05 per pound.
The province's crab fishery saw growth in 2021 after years of decline and uncertainty, with landed value of $612 million in the first 11 months of the year, an increase of 174 per cent over all of 2020.
But the quota increase isn't universal across the province. One area, Labrador's 2J zone, will see a 28 per cent cut to its quota. In a media release Thursday afternoon, Todd Russell, president of the NunatuKavut community council, said the cut adds to the "dire situation in the Indigenous fishery in NunatuKavut."
For fishermen like Aaron Ferriera, the quota increase is welcome news.
"For a lot of fishermen, crab season is the only thing they fish all year-round, especially now with the price of everything skyrocketing. It's a good thing for sure," he said.
And the cost of doing business is going up.
Glen Winslow, a member of the FFAW's inshore fishing council who fishes out of St. John's, says his fuel costs will be double or triple what they were last year due to the high price of diesel.
"We buys a lot of fuel," Winslow said. "If it keeps going the way it done, it actually could be three times the cost for fuel this year."
The price of diesel rose 2.7 cents per litre on the island and 6.7 cents in Labrador on Thursday. A litre of fuel costs $2.34 per litre on the Avalon Peninsula.
Winslow said he believes the province's product is superior to other markets' offerings, and should fetch a higher price.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.
New poll results released by Narrative Research suggest the Progressive Conservatives are heading into Tuesday's provincial election with a commanding lead over their political rivals.
A measles outbreak in New Brunswick is set to push Canada's annual case count to the highest it's been in five years, highlighting how infectious the disease is and how low vaccination rates have allowed it to take hold, says an immunologist.