Nunavut fishery groups protest Ottawa's quota decisions

Two Nunavut fishery organizations took to the streets of Iqaluit on Tuesday to protest the federal government's recent decisions to allocate turbot fishing quotas to companies outside the territory.

About 50 people — including Nunavut politicians, fishery supporters and curious onlookers — set an old canoe ablaze at the local causeway, in a protest organized by the Baffin Fisheries Coalition and Niqitaq Fisheries.

They say they hope the burning canoe will send a message to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which they say has twice awarded fishery quotas within Nunavut's adjacent waters to companies in southern Canada this year.

"This year alone, Nunavut has been totally ignored and treated very unfairly," Baffin Fisheries Coalition president Johnny Mike said at Tuesday's event.

"It has been very frustrating. Hopefully, this will send a message to [the] DFO office."

This month, the federal department announced it was allocating 600 tonnes of competitive fishery quota to companies in the south. The quota was for a fishing zone called Division 0B, located off the southeast coast of Baffin Island, in waters Nunavut officials say are adjacent to the territory's fishing zone.

The department awarded a similar quota in February, again to companies outside Nunavut.

The Nunavut fishery groups have been lobbying Ottawa to consult with Nunavut before transferring more allocated fishing quotas, arguing that more quota for Nunavut means jobs for people in the territory.

"Hopefully, the federal government down there will know that we're serious [about] our fisheries in our territory," said Environment Minister Olayuk Akesuk, who was at Tuesday's protest and supports the fisheries coalition's concerns.

Akesuk condemned Ottawa's latest move in the Nunavut legislative assembly on Monday, saying the federal government has to "get its act together."

"While Ottawa bases its legal case for Arctic sovereignty on Inuit use and occupancy, DFO is actively undermining our development of an economic sector that could help sustain that occupancy," Akesuk told MLAs in the assembly.

Akesuk said his department would review its response to the fisheries department over the next few weeks, but added that Nunavut will not stand by while southern Canada takes control of Nunavut's fishery.