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Fishery: Gulf of St. Lawrence Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis)
Status:
The certification body, Tavel Certification, has proposed 4 Peer Reviewers for the review of the Draft Gulf of St. Lawrence Shrimp Commercial Fisheries Full Assessment Report.
If you wish to provide feedback on the proposed peer reviewers, please contact Steve Devitt no later than 5pm GMT 9 April 2008.
Please refer to the downloads section for further information.
Area SFA 8 Harmonised assessment:
Due to an overlap of certification assessments of the Gulf of St Lawrence Northern Shrimp and Canadian Northern Prawn Fisheries, a harmonised process has been agreed between TAVEL Certification Inc. and Moody Marine Ltd., to coordinate certification activities in the Shrimp Fishing Area 8 (SFA 8).
The certification bodies have announced the release of the final Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts (PI&SGs) that will be used to evaluate Area SFA 8 against the MSC Principles and Criteria.
Please refer to the 'SFA 8 Harmonised Assessment' downloads section for further information.
Last updated: 19 March 2008.
Location:
The fishery is conducted within Canadian waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The clients and harvesters are registered in the DFO Gulf region and based in Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada.
The fishery began off Sept-Îles in 1965, subsequently expanding to the Esquiman Channel, to the north and south of Anticosti Island and to the Estuary of the Gulf of St. Lawrence by 1980. These five areas were managed separately when TACs were introduced but the number of management areas was reduced to four in 1993 in an adjustment of boundaries that more closely aligns management areas with areas of high shrimp production. The four shrimp fishing areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence include the Estuary (SFA 12), Sept Iles (SFA 10), Anticosti (SFA 9) and Esquiman (SFA 8). The fishery occurs primarily at depths of 150 to 350m.
Fishing Method:
Most of the fishing is conducted by otter trawlers ranging in length from 16.7 m (55 feet) to 27.4 m (90 feet).
Management:
A draft management plan is in effect for 5 years, starting in 2003 and most recently updated in 2005. The principles underlying this plan are "resource conservation, continuing viability of traditional shrimpers and the integration of First Nations into fisheries".
Annual TACs are subdivided into individual boat quotas and there are provisions for quota transferability (except for Newfoundland based boats). Access for boats without permanent shrimp licences is dependent on TACs exceeding certain tonnages.
The management plan lists the conditions under which fishing will be conducted, as authorized under the Fisheries Act and fishery regulations, and outlines DFO enforcement strategies such as vessel and air patrols and dockside inspections. Provision is made also for industry funding of dockside monitoring and at-sea observer programs. The coverage level for dockside monitoring is 100%. However, the level of observer coverage is determined by DFO in consultation with the industry. In recent years this has been set at 5%. Deployment of observers to fishing trips is a DFO responsibility.
The primary control on bycatches is compulsory use of a separator grate. The plan also describes a protocol for temporary closures when bycatches of small Greenland halibut exceed certain quantities.
An agreement between DFO and Group B fishermen gives the industry a role in stewardship of the resource. Provisions include multi-year catch sharing arrangements and industry financial contributions for surveillance and research, additional to core DFO funding.
Main commercial market:
Currently, there are five shrimp processing plants in Quebec and two in New Brunswick. The broad market split is between product exported to the European market (60%) and product remaining within the Canada and US domestic markets (40%).
Assessment details:
Assessment will take between 12 – 15 months and is expected to start in December 2006.
Clients:
Mr. Jean-Paul Gagné
Association Québécoise de l’Industrie de la Pêche
Place de la Cité, Tour Belle Cour
2590, coul. Laurier
Bureu 860, 8e étage
Québec G1V 4M6
Canada
Tel: 1 (418) 654-1831
Fax: 1 (418) 654-1376
Email : aqip@quebectel.com
Mr. Fernand Brideau
Produits Belle-Baie Ltée.
10, rue du Quai
Caraquet, NB E1W 1B6
Canada
Tel: 1 (506) 727-4414
Fax: 1 (506) 727-7166
Email: info@bellebaie.com
Mr. Serge Haché
L'Association Cooperative des Pecheurs de l'Ile Ltée.
90, rue Principale
Lmèque, New Brunswick E8T 1M8
Canada
Phone: 1 (506) 344-3304
Fax: 1 (506) 344-0413
Email: acpi-sh@nb.aibn.com
Certification Body:
Steve Devitt
TAVEL Certification Inc.
815 - 99 Wyse Road
Dartmouth, NS,
Canada
B3A 4S5
Tel: +1 902 422-4511
Fax: +1 902 422-9780
Mobile: 1 902 497-4586
E-mail: sdevitt@tavelcertify.com |
Downloads:
Gulf of St Lawrence Northern Shrimp
Advisory: Proposed Peer Reviewers - posted 19 March 2008
Final Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts - posted 20 August 2007
Advisory: Change of Units of Certification - posted 04 Jun 2007
Draft Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts - posted 04 Jun 2007
Advisory: Assessment team selected - posted 05 Feb 2007
Advisory: Proposed assessment team - comments due by 22 Dec 2006
Avis: Équipe d'examinateurs proposée - commentaires acceptées jusqu’au 22 décembre 2006
Assessment notification - posted 30 November 2006
Avis: évaluation complète de la pêcherie - affiché le 4 décembre 2006
Area SFA 8 Harmonised assessment:
Final Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts - posted 5 November 2007
Announcement: Stakeholder consultation - posted 28 September 2007
Announcement: draft Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts - posted 28 September 2007
Draft Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts - posted 28 September 2007
Advisory: Stakeholder Consultation - posted 20 August 2007 | 
