Canada considers quota cut on commercial baby eel fishery to increase Mi'kmaw access

The federal government is considering cutting the commercial elver quota by 14 per cent this year to increase Mi'kmaw access to the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels.

Ottawa has cancelled negotiations to buy out commercial licence holders. The bargaining was an attempt to make room for Indigenous participation without increasing fishing effort.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans notified the industry of its intentions late last month.

"The financial submissions received by the Department were significantly in excess of the market value estimate obtained by DFO, and therefore not pursued. The Department has determined it will not proceed with a second expression of interest process ahead of the 2022 season," regional director Jacinta Berthier wrote Feb. 24.

The letter continues: "Therefore, we are notifying current license holders that the Department is now considering an interim measure in 2022 that would see a reduction of individual quotas for the 2022 season, of approximately 14% from each license."

"The process of bringing new entrants into this fishery may also result in further adjustments to licenses, including changes in or reduction of the river access locations and changes in gear type allowance you have received previously."

The department said it will not compensate licence holders for their troubles this year.

It will decide "on a longer-term approach to support Indigenous participation in the commercial elver fishery" before the 2023 season.

DFO gave licence holders until March 4 to respond.

Abandoned principle?

There are nine commercial elver licence holders, including the We'koqma'q band in Cape Breton. The Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery represents five of them. We'koqma'q is not one of them.

The Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery says DFO's decision to impose a quota cut "would imply an abandonment of the willing buyer/willing seller principle" that has been a bedrock policy to integrate First Nations into commercial fisheries.

"For the past two months, DFO has told our members to expect a formal request to make new proposals for sale/relinquishment of our quotas," president Genna Carey said in a statement to CBC News.

"Our members engaged reputable professionals to prepare our original offers. DFO claims to have an analysis showing we overvalued our quotas, but has not provided their valuation or any report. Now, they have simply abandoned the process."

The statement continued: "Our group has assured DFO that we are looking forward to good faith discussions in a proper consultation, not under a seven-day timeline to respond to a partial proposal. DFO knows that our industry supports greater inclusion of First Nations in the glass eel fishery and will take reasonable positions to help accommodate this."

Big money at stake

Tiny and transparent, elvers are sold for thousands of dollars per kilogram and flown to Asia where they are raised to adulthood for food.

Nearly 10,000 kilograms are harvested each year from dozens of rivers in the Maritimes, mostly in Nova Scotia.

Since 2011, the average price per kilogram has been $3,300, according to DFO data.

The price peaked in 2019 at $5,200. The commercial fishery, which runs from April to early summer, was valued at nearly $39 million that year.

Mi'kmaw demands

In recent years, Mi'kmaw bands have been demanding a piece of the action.

That has led to numerous riverside confrontations between Mik'maw, claiming a treaty right, and DFO officers.

In 2020, an unexpected influx of Mi'kmaw harvesters — five times more than the year before — overwhelmed the department's ability to manage the fishery, leading to a shutdown.

Tensions continued in 2021 with more Mi'kmaw arrests.

The Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs did not respond to a request for comment on DFO efforts in 2022 to increase Indigenous access to the elver fishery, including a potential commercial quota cut.

It has previously said that commercial elver licences should be cut first if there are conservation issues.

The We'koqma'q band told CBC it has not come up with a position.

The tightly regulated commercial fishery was worth an average of $4.3 million per licence in 2019.

In a statement, DFO said it is "seeking feedback from commercial elver licence holders on how a potential temporary redistribution of approximately 14 per cent of quota allocations in the upcoming season would affect them and their business."

It refused to make its valuation of commercial licences public.

"DFO used market valuation information provided by a third party company that provides this information on a commercial basis. Since that third party information is proprietary in nature, DFO is not in a position to release it," spokesperson Lauren Sankey said in the statement.

"Licence holders' feedback will be considered in the Minister's decision-making process on the potential interim redistribution of commercial quota for the 2022 season and new access for Indigenous communities which have submitted commercial fishing plans for elver. However, no decisions have been made at this point."