The snow crab fishing season has begun in part of the St. Lawrence River estuary, in area 17. Innu fishermen from several coastal communities set sail to bring back these lucrative crustaceans.
© Caroline Girard/Radio-Canada
Snow crab fishing among the Innu began on Friday for the communities of Essipit and Pessamit. It will begin on April 4 for the community of Ekuanitshit. (Archives)
On the North Shore, zone 17 extends from Tadoussac to Pointe-des-Monts. The price paid by consumers for snow crab should still be high this year, believes the fisheries coordinator for the Innu community of Essipit, Pierre Léonard.
The snow crab quota remains unchanged in 2022 in area 17, he adds. The community operates a crabber with a license and a half, which authorizes it to catch approximately 153,000 pounds of snow crab. For its part, the community of Pessamit operates two crab fishermen.
Mr. Léonard indicates that approximately 80% of the catch will be exported to the United States. With the ban on importing crab from Russia and the quasi moratorium on crab in Alaskaprices are expected to rise, but it’s a bit early in the seasonto decide, admits Mr. Léonard.
The communities of Essipit and Pessamit have vertically integrated companies“, notes Mr. Leonard. They manage boats, resource processing plants, points of sale and restaurants.
Increase in quota in area 16
Zone 16, for its part, begins at Pointe-des-Monts and goes as far as Natashquan, thus including the towns of Sept-Îles and Havre-Saint-Pierre.
The Innu fishermen of zone 16, which notably includes the community of Ekuanitshit, waited until Monday, April 4 to set sail. In zone 16, the crab fishing season will last 14 weeks.
The prices are crazysays the manager of the Pêcheries Shipek d’Ekuanitshit fleet, Guy Vigneault. It predicts that, for the 2022 season, anglers will receive between $10 and $13/pound when landing their catch from their boat. In Montreal, retail prices exceed $25 a pound.
For Mr. Vigneault, the quotas that limit the number of catches should increase by about 15% in zone 16, which will allow fishermen to bring back more crustaceans.
Pêcheries Shipek will have 7 boats during the snow crab fishing season, and the vast majority of fishers will be Innu. And if the captains of the ships are largely non-native, Mr. Vigneault is delighted that one of them is an Innu.