There will not be the typical smell of smoked herring this summer in the Pointe-Basse area of Havre-aux-Maison. Due to the suspension of the spring herring fishery, the Fumoir d’antan will have to cease its flagship production.
There will be no smoke in the smoke shop this yearsays the co-owner of the Fumoir d’antan, Benoit Arseneau.
Each year, the last industrial smokehouse in the Magdalen Islands used to process 20,000 kilos of spring herring. The ban on fishing spring herring in the southern Gulf has put this tradition on hold, at least for two years.
The traditional smoking method used by the Magdalen company requires fresh fish. Importing herring is not an option, nor is sourcing fall herring which is too fatty to produce the jerky which made the reputation of the Madelinan company.
Since 2001, the company has expanded its service offering by offering more than twenty smoked products, such as salmon, cod or scallops. However, only herring was smokedin the traditional smokehouse. A more modern device is used for other processed products.
The suspension of fishing until at least 2023 will therefore force the Fumoir d’antan to review its service offer, both for products and for the historical interpretation component.
We are in original fishing vessels, we offer an interpretation of herring smoking in our economuseum“, explains Benoit Arseneau. We will have to review the interpretation portion in relation to the products we sell to make interesting animations. You will have to adjust.»
© With the authorization of the Smokehouse of yesteryear
Benoit Arseneau (right) manages the Smokehouse of yesteryear with his family. The smokehouse was built by his grandfather Fabien in 1940. The latter closed the doors of the smokehouse in 1976 due to declining stocks, but the Arseneau family relaunched activities in 1996 to allow Madelinots and visitors to ” reconnect with the history of smoked herring in the Islands”.
The suspension of activities in the traditional smoking room caused a stir on the Islands.
I got dumped Friday afternoon“, mentions Benoit Arseneau. I told people not to panic. We had an inventory to start the season, maybe until the beginning of summer. People were very worried that we would close. We are not closing, but we will have a product that will be out of stock for a few years.»
Smoked herring is intimately linked to the history of the development of the Magdalen Islands.
There were 40 smokehouses on the Islands at one time, we smoked 10 million pounds of herring and 2500 people worked there“, explains Benoit Arseneau. It was a real industry in the 1950s. Most Madelinots over the age of 70 worked in smoke shops.»
© With the authorization of the Smokehouse of yesteryear
The Fumoir d’antan is the last smokehouse in the Magdalen Islands to smoke herring using the traditional method.
Bait crustaceans or feed humans?
For the co-owner of the Fumoir d’antan, the suspension of the spring herring fishery in the southern Gulf was not a surprise, however.
We’ve been waiting for this news for several years.“says Benoit Arseneau. From year to year, we saw the biomass of spring herring decrease, it was always more and more complicated to get supplies.»
Since 2003, the family business had also turned to the Maritime provinces, particularly New Brunswick, to find herring, because it was no longer possible to get supplies in the archipelago due to the decline in stocks.
© With the authorization of the Smokehouse of yesteryear
Unlike almost all the smokehouses in the Magdalen Islands, the one in Pointe-Basse was saved from demolition.
Benoit Arseneau blames the fishing industry for this decrease in biomass, because herring is mainly used as bait for crab and lobster fishing.
We had waste and poor inventory management in the bait industry and that’s got us where we are today.“, he launches.
The co-owner of the Fumoir d’antan pleads for a rapid resumption of fishing for food purposes only. He hopes that other solutions will be found to bait crustaceans.