DFO redistributes quota in baby eel fishery to increase access for Mi'kmaw bands

Canada cut the lucrative Maritime commercial baby eel fishery by 14 per cent this week and gave that quota to Mi'kmaw bands to implement a treaty right to earn a moderate living from fishing.

The quota cut is being closely watched because it was imposed without compensation by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) after the department cancelled a voluntary commercial licence buyback program for 2022.

The so-called "willing buyer-willing seller" approach has been used in the past to increase First Nations access.

"This has been a bullying exercise from the very beginning. You're not going fishing. We're going to take it," said Brian Giroux, managing director of the Shelburne Elver Group.

The co-operative is one of nine commercial elver licence holders in the Maritimes, most of which are in Nova Scotia. Giroux's co-op lost 160 kilograms in quota.

"It represents, at market value right now, about $1 million spread over my 17 members," Giroux told CBC News.

Maritime fishery worth $40M

In Maine, where the season is open, baby eels are selling for around $2,250 per pound.

The tiny translucent eels — known as elvers — are big business. Caught each spring as they migrate into Maritime rivers, elvers are shipped live to Asia and grown to adulthood for food.

The Maritime fishery is worth about $40 million a year.

In addition to the elver quota cut, this week DFO also reduced a commercial dungeness crab fishery in Tofino, B.C. and redistributed it to Indigenous bands. Instead of quota, DFO reduced the number of commercial traps that can be fished.

In the House of Commons, Fisheries Minister Joyce Murrary said the government is obliged to act.

"The Indigenous communities have a court-ordered right to fish in their traditional waters, a right to fish for a moderate livelihood. And so that is a principle of our government to satisfy those rights."

She described the commercial catch reductions as part of an "industry-led" approach to reconciliation and conservation.

Her office has made the same claim about the elver decision in a statement to CBC News.

"DFO received proposals for First Nations Elver access this season and there has been an industry-led process on elver licenses this year to reach an interim agreement," said press secretary Claire Teichman.

Genna Carey, another commercial elver licence holder, said increased First Nations participation could be achieved "without expropriation from commercial fishermen."

"We can tell you that the industry was in unanimous consensus against expropriation and that DFO gave us incredibly short timeframes to submit alternative ideas, in some cases as little as 24 hours. Expropriation was not an 'industry-led' solution," Carey said.

She also speaks for an industry association representing seven of the nine licence holders.

The We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton is also a commercial elver licence holder, but did not lose quota, according to DFO.

"The intention of this interim redistribution of quota allocation is to increase Indigenous participation in the commercial elver fishery for the 2022 season. We'koqma'q First Nation's communal commercial licence is not affected," said DFO spokesperson Lauren Sankey in a statement.

Temporary approach

DFO said this is a temporary, one-year approach "to ensure we can continue to negotiate reasonable agreements with licence holders while respecting First Nations' right to fish."

Giroux said DFO has left open the possibility that commercial quotas could be increased this year if there is surplus.

The department also did not act on its warning that it would displace commercial licence holders from rivers they have fished in the past.

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs said bands in southwest Nova Scotia, known as the Kespukwitk District, have been interested in developing an elver fishery.

"We are encouraged that we are able to begin to develop a way forward in cooperation with DFO but we know that there is still a long way to go to see the full implementation of our Treaty Rights," said Chief Gerald Toney, fisheries lead for the assembly, in a statement to CBC News.