N.L. fishermen worried after double-whammy of snow crab, shrimp announcements

Fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador say they're shockedthe total allowable catch for snow crab will be slashed 22 per cent this yearand some are relieved it isn't worse news.

• DFO slashes crab quota in latest blow to N.L. fishing industry
• Gutting of quota 'nail in the coffin' for inshore shrimp industry, says FFAW

"It's going to be very difficult," said Nelson Bussey, a fish harvester in Port de Grave, who's predicting 40 per cent less crab than he caught last year.

The quota, announced Monday by the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans, has been set at 35,419 tonnes.

Bussey says the cut doesn't match up withreality.

"All we're catching is the older crab and they're saying, 'No, b'y, you got to take a 40 per cent hit in one area and a 50 per cent hit in another area,'" he said.

"We are just not seeing it in our fishing pattern, and I guess this is why it's so upsetting."

Bright side?

Others are trying to see a half-empty glass as half-full, when it comes to the snow crab announcement.

Terry Ryan, a fish harvester in La Scie, says his zone, Area 3K, won't see any quota cuts.

"As least we didn't get a decrease, like we did the last four or five years," he said.

"We have bottomed out, it seems."

Double-whammy

Scientists had warned snow crab numbers had dropped, but it didn't lessen the blow,which came a few days after DFO announced a 63 per cent cut to the northern shrimp quota.

Bussey says he isn't pinning muchhope on a large-scale commercial cod fishery.

"Personally, I'd like to see a balance. Cod is not going to do it for us," he said.

"Cod is OK as a supplement, but let the cod reboundand destroy the crab and the shrimp is just no good."

• Fisheries union calling for 'significant' quota increases amid growth of northern cod stocks

Even a rebuilt cod fishery is likely at least five years away, Bussey conceded.

That, combined with the announcements about snow crab and shrimp,has left himandotherswondering what's next.

"We mostly live from day to day now in this fishery," he said.