Question Period Note: Issuance of a Fourth Arctic Surf Clam Licence

Issuance of a Fourth Arctic Surf Clam Licence

Plans to launch an Expression of Interest process and create a forth licence in the Arctic surf clam fishery have been cancelled.

The recent sale of Clearwater Seafoods Partnership Ltd. has resulted in the reissuance of the three existing offshore Arctic surf clam licences to FNC Quota Limited Partnership, a company wholly owned by First Nations communities in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The goal of the planned Expression of Interest and the creation of a forth licence was to increase Indigenous participation in this fishery which has been achieved through the market.

As a result, the entire total allowable catch (TAC) for Arctic surf clam will, from now on, be allocated to the three licences held by FNC Quota Limited Partnership at the start of the fishing season to support a predictable fishery, the employees, and the communities.

• The offshore Arctic surf clam fishery is worth approximately $100 million annually. It is estimated that the fishery employs 452 individuals in clam operations across Atlantic Canada, with 187 employees on land and 265 vessel-based.
• In 2017, notably as part of its efforts to advance Indigenous reconciliation, the Department sought to reconfigure access within the existing TAC by creating a fourth licence that would be issued to an Indigenous entity in Atlantic Canada and/or Quebec. The three existing licences were held directly or indirectly by one company, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated.
• In 2018, the Department launch an Expression of Interest process to identify a holder for the fourth Arctic surf clam licence. The process was cancelled later and no further process was undertaken.
• Starting in 2018, 25 per cent of the TAC has been set aside at the beginning of each fishing season to provide for this potential new entrant. However, in the absence of a fourth licence, the Department has continued to allocate the full TAC across the three existing licences annually.
• In March 2019, Clearwater Seafoods announced that it had entered into an agreement with 14 Mi’kmaq communities (13 in Nova Scotia and one in Newfoundland and Labrador), regarding the possible fourth licence.
• The agreement provides for revenue sharing, employment and training, and development for the Indigenous participants. The agreement provides that the Indigenous communities would retain control of the rights and privileges conferred under the licence, and contemplates the use of Clearwater’s sale and distribution system for the fish caught under the fourth licence.
• In 2021, following the sale of Clearwater Seafoods, the three existing Arctic surf clam licences were reissued to FNC Quota Limited Partnership (FNC Quota), wholly-owned and controlled by seven Atlantic Mi’kmaq First Nations. The new ownership of Clearwater has committed to preserve the agreement with the 14 Mi’kmaq communities regarding the possible fourth licence.
• In light of the new reconfiguration of the Arctic surf clam fishery with 100 per cent of the licences and associated quota between the hands of several First Nations communities, the Minister has decided that no new Expression of Interest will be launched for the creation of a fourth licence. The full TAC will, from now on, be attributed to the three existing licences at the start of the fishing season to support a predictable fishery for the new licence holders (FNC Quota), the employees, and the communities.

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