Axed jobs and closed plants loom, warn crab harvesters about new management approach

Fishing businesses are on the line if the Department of Fisheries and Oceans implements a new management system for snow crab, says a Port de Grave harvester.

"Bankrupt ...plant workers will lose their jobs. Plants will definitely close. Fishermen are definitely bankrupt ... I'd say 80 per cent of the industry is bankrupt," saidBrad Doyle.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is meeting with crab harvesters across the province this week to discuss a precautionary approach for the troubled snow crab stock.

Recent science shows the abundance of snow crab is at its lowest level in25 years, and new biological information shows crabs aren't growing to a fishablesize.

The precautionary approach is a management strategy thatdifferentiates stock status into healthy, cautious and critical levels. DFO scientists haven't completed their assessment of the 2018 crab season but examples used by DFO show that ifthe approach had been applied to the 2017season, it would have meant an 80-per-cent cut to the largest group of crab fishers in the province in an area known as 3L.

"I understand the concerns of fishermen but we are trying to have a sustainable fishery so that fishermen can have a fishery in future years," saidAnnette Rumbolt, regional manager for resource management for DFO.

Harvester concerns about DFO science

Some 200 harvesters and their representatives attendedthe DFO meeting inSt. John's Monday.Many raised concerns about whether or not DFO's science is comprehensive enough.

"We've had environmental issues that weren't taken into account," says fisher Brad Doyle. Fishers like Doyle want to known whatimpact other fish speciesand the growing population of harp seals ishavingon snow crab.

"DFOdoestalk about an ecosystem approach sometimes,but when it really comes to managing they manage these fisheries in silos and it's notworking well.So we need to get better at it and to manage it on an ecosystem approach," saidKeith Sullivan, president of the Fish Food and Allied Workers Association.

Rumboltadmitted an ecosystem approach is not implemented in stock assessments.

"The thing isthat there is a seal group that researches seal, and this is snow crab," she said.

"So even thoughit may be happening in the ecosystem it's notexplicitly done in the science."

So should DFO scientistsbe striving for more of an ecosystem approach?

"It's definitely somewhere where we would want to be going and there's a still a lot about all the fisheriesfor usto learn about. So yes,there'slots to be learned yet," said Rumbolt.

Questions about seismic impact

Harvestersalso asked DFOmanagers aboutseismic activity from the oil and gas industry and whether it'scausing harm to sea life.

DFO is studyingseismic activity, scientists said,but sayinformation about the impact on crab is not included in the stock assessment.

For harvesters like Brad Doyle who have millions invested in the snow crab industry, the omissionsare frustrating. They're calling for more and better science and improved communication with fishers.

"This can't be just based on what one group sees based on crab in their survey. There's other factors at play," said Doyle

"We are the best science that are out there ... we've seen things in the past that maybe they haven't seen, or if they have they're not communicating with us that they have. So yes, we need more science," he said

DFOsaidit will establish a working group on the precautionary approach for snow crab management.

The snow crab stock assessment for the 2019 season will be held in March.

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