Question Period Note: Gulf Shrimp

• DFO is aware that the decline of Gulf Shrimp catches in recent years has been difficult for harvesters and the broader industry.
• The Department is committed to working with industry and Indigenous groups to explore all options to support harvesters adjust to the challenges facing the fishery due to climate and ecosystem changes.

• The 2019 rollover of the Total Allowable Catch is based on the full stock assessment conducted in 2018, and was supported by industry and First Nations harvesters during a meeting on March 28th.
• Adopting a two year Total Allowable Catch for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 fishing seasons is considered an interim measure, and was assessed by DFO Science in 2014 as meeting the conservation objectives of the stock.
• The Department has established a Gulf Shrimp Working Group, tasked with addressing the challenges in this fishery. Membership of the working group includes industry and Indigenous groups. Short term objectives include undertaking a review of the Precautionary Approach framework for the fishery, and exploring how some of the exceptional circumstances in the fishery could be better addressed (e.g. warming waters and impacts of predation from the rapidly increasing redfish stock). In the medium term, the industry is asking the Department to review licence costs, current allocations to certain associations that are not active in the fishery, and access for shrimpers to the upcoming redfish fishery.

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