(as originally published by The Hill Times July 15, 2024, located here)

Despite seeking a bigger allowable catch, The Atlantic Groundfish Council respects the minister’s decision to take a small, cautious step to a commercial fishery.

It makes sense that in the country with the longest coastline in the world, fish and seafood are among the largest single food commodities Canada exports. While the most lucrative of the $7.6-billion exported in 2023 was lobster, crab, and Atlantic salmon, customers and fisheries experts around the world keep a close eye on northern cod.

The collapse of the cod stock off Newfoundland and Labrador inspired the creation of global sustainability certification labels like the Marine Stewardship Council’s famous blue checkmark. When Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier ended the 32-year moratorium on the iconic cod stock on June 24, it turned heads worldwide.

The rooting for its revival extends beyond the Canadian borders. In my two decades at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), I witnessed it in science assessments, stakeholder meetings, and while defending Canada’s rights in international negotiations. Now, as president of the Atlantic Groundfish Council (AGC), I’m inspired by the tremendous industry-led efforts to rebuild the stock, and increase the value of every pound landed. This has included a $9-million Fishery Improvement Project in partnership with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, with customers like Marks & Spencer, Youngs Seafoods, and Thistle Seafoods from the United Kingdom; Sysco France; and High Liner Foods from Canada/United States financially contributing to it.

It has also included a $14-million upgrade to a plant in Arnold’s Cove, N.L., a town of fewer than 1,000 people. The plant—owned by AGC member and family-owned company Icewater Seafoods—is the only plant in North America focused on cod. Miraculously, the Wareham family has innovated and continued to operate despite the cod moratorium. It has sustained hundreds of jobs in a small town, and preserved the link to markets and cod-specific expertise that will now benefit many more livelihoods and communities with a reopened commercial cod fishery.

Ocean Choice—another family-owned AGC member in Newfoundland and Labrador—invested in the MV Calvert, a 74-metre vessel named to honour the fishing village where its owners, brothers Martin and Blaine Sullivan, were raised in a fishing family. The state-of-the-art green class vessel is the first new Canadian groundfish vessel to join the offshore fishery since the mid-1980s.

Collectively, the two local members employ 2,000 people in the fishery in more than 300 communities in Canada’s youngest province. Many of those communities have little other economic opportunities. They also buy raw material from thousands of harvesters. Both focus on creating year-round jobs, bucking the trend of an industry often plagued by seasonal employment, and a dependence on employment insurance.

While industry participants requested a 2024-2025 total allowable catch of 20,000-25,000 metric tons (MT), Lebouthillier set a more conservative limit of 18,000 MT, an exploitation rate of six per cent. By comparison, the exploitation rate for most modern cod fisheries is 20 per cent, and northern cod surpassed 50 per cent pre-moratorium. The AGC respects the minister’s decision to take a small, cautious step to a commercial fishery. After all, the impact of the 1992 cod moratorium in Newfoundland and Labrador was staggering. A province of 573,000 people lost 30,000 jobs overnight.

The end of that moratorium is a resurgence of hope, and an opportunity to rewrite the story. Both the Wareham and Sullivan families—like their thousands of employees—have generations of history in the cod fishery. They are committed to harvesting, processing, and marketing a globally competitive and sustainable, high-quality product, to the benefit of people and communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sylvie Lapointe is the president of the Atlantic Groundfish Council. Previously, she spent 26 years working for the Government of Canada, including two decades at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. She managed fisheries across Canada, chaired high profile Advisory Committees in the Atlantic and held many positions within DFO, including assistant deputy minister of fisheries and harbour management.

The Hill Times