Shelving shrimp: Inside Katsheshuk II, OCI's $8-million bet on groundfish

For years the Katsheshuk II hauled in shrimp off the shores of Newfoundland. The ship caught, processed and froze the shrimp to be sent to customers.

But shrimp stocks have shrunk, leaving Ocean Choice International with too many boats for too small a quota, so the companyis spending $8 million to convert the ship.

It's not the end of the industry.- BlaineSullivan

"The shellfish resources are declining but in general, some exceptions, groundfish is increasing," saysBlaineSullivan, the chief operating officer for OCI.

The KatsheshukII is being overhauled so it can start fishing for groundfish. The industry is hoping for the eventual return of cod, but in the near future it will be other species.

• Offshore northern shrimp fishermen won't be compensated for quota cut

"Our purpose now is to focus on red fishand some other species, but yes,definitely,when we built this vessel we expected cod to increase in the future," said Sullivan.

"We've built it with that in mind."

Processing on board

A lot of the money has gone into a new processing plant on board the ship. The million pounds of fish that this vessel can hold can all be processed on board.

The fish are sorted, sized, gutted, sliced and frozen, ready to be delivered to customers around the world.

"Years ago there was a lot more manual labour on board, a lot more handling, and nowadays most of the equipment does the heavy work for you," said Jeff Burke, who manages the boat.

The processing plant is more labour-intensive for groundfish than it is for shrimp. Twelve people, working in six-hour shifts, will be needed to process the fish.

The ship will spend weeks at a time at sea, fishing as far away as the Arctic Circle.

Uncertainty over cod

Cod stocks have been climbing in recent years, but are still well below the levels they were before the cod moratorium in the early 1990s.

It's unclear how much quotas will increase, how quickly and how it will be divided between small inshore vessels and larger offshore boats like the Katsheshuk II.

Sullivan said that makes it challenging to make the right decisions aboutwhere to invest.

"Without reinvestment you can't protect those jobs," he said."Whether it's on land or on the ocean, we really need a stable environment to invest in."

Even with shrinking quotas for shrimp and crab, Sullivan said the industry won't shrink.

"We want people to continue to choose this industry as a source of good jobs, and yes, we definitely believe this is a transition," he said.

"It's not the end of the industry."