For nearly a millennium, fishermen frequented the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, a large Canadian island known for its cod stocks. Until everything collapsed in the late 1990s, and the Canadian government closed the cod fishery in 1992, putting 30,000 people out of work. Authorities just announced this week a tentative reopening, which has revived hopes for a recovery in this economic sector.
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With our correspondent in Quebec, Pascale Guéricolas
The opening of a small fishing commercialization can be explained by a new cod stock assessment model. With equal numbers, the state of health of the species in this Canadian region seems a little less critical than in previous years, in the eyes of the Ministry of Fisheries.
Researcher Hughes Benoît remains cautious, however: ” This is relatively low, we do not anticipate a return to the intensive fishing that existed in the 80s when 200,000,000 tonnes could be landed annually. Here, we are talking about a quota of 18,000 tonnes for the coming year. »
Fish volumes too low according to some fishermen
The volumes of fish to be caught, which are not huge, nevertheless delight the industry, which will have more cod to process.
Some fishermen, like Lee Melindy, hoped for more, however: “ This is bullshit. We have been fighting for years to have access to sockets. And now that we finally have what we asked for, it’s a volume far from our expectations. In addition, 6% of the catch is intended for foreign trawlers. While we are trying to rebuild our industry, the government is dismantling it. »
The opening of the cod fishery should take place in mid-July and last a few days.
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