Newfoundland Shrimp Quota Cuts: The Human Cost of Fisheries Shifts (Student Post)

Throughout the congress, students from Ratana Chuenpagdee's World Fisheries course at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, will be guest-posting here on the blog. Part of their assignment is to respond to comments and get involved in discussions with people attending the conference, and with other students around the world. 

We welcome comments, and encourage you to join the debate!


On the heels of the announcement that shrimp quotas in Newfoundland, Canada, will be cut from 30,000 tons to 17,000 over the next two years,  fishers are having bad memories of the cod moratorium of the early 90’s. 

Small shrimp, big effects on individuals and communities.

Following the collapse of cod in Newfoundland, fishers turned to shrimp as a new means of income and industry. The change in species not only changed the methods and equipment used but also the licenses and rules in place for fishing shrimp. 

Now that it appears that shrimp stocks may be in decline, many of the fishers have been left in a precarious situation, especially those who refinanced their operations in order to take advantage of the new market. This is in part brought on by the rebound of the cod stocks aided by the current moratorium. The problem this creates is fishermen are not able to fish up the food chain, nor are they able to fish further down the food chain.

As a result of these dynamics, further strain is put on the social complexity of the fishing industry. For many fishers, changing from cod to shrimp has caused a financial strain, whereby fishers, forced to refinance, are now relying on their specific fishing equipment to pay off their dept, along with trying save for a comfortable retirement.

The personal challenges faced by the individual fishers will also have repercussions on a higher level- as fishers struggle, the government has to pick up the slack, especially as more and more fishers approach retirement age. 

Of course, the concept of fishing down the food chain is not exclusiveto the Newfoundland fishery, but is reminiscent of a more global issue. 

With shrimp stocks declining within all areas of the North Atlantic, affecting both the Canadian and U.S. markets, this is not a localized problem and affects fishers internationally.

We've seen these sorts of declines cause massive social damage in the past...The real question is, "have we learned anything?" A failure to act in one sector of the fishery can lead to unforeseen economic losses, furthermore creating social complexity for those who rely on such industries.  

By Marcus, Amanda, Matthew and Lori.