A dispute between Canada and Denmark over just a symbolic shrimp catch may be a sign of what to expect as warming waters and receding icecaps loom in the future for the northern Atlantic and Arctic.
The area just outside the Canadian economic zone off Newfoundland, in international waters, is managed under a Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) conservation agreement with set catch quotas, but there is no system for enforcing them.
Canada has about 80 percent of the TACs in the contested area, and Denmark – in effect fleets from Greenland and the Faroe Islands – only 1 percent, but a Danish move to “unilaterally” expand its quota from 334 tonnes to 3,100 tonnes has now prompted a Canadian threat to bar the Danes from landing their catches in Canadian ports.
“Canada has been working in good faith to resolve issues in NAFO regarding the allocation of 3L shrimp for the Faroese and Greenlandic fleets, but their continued overfishing is unacceptable and the time for action is now,” said the Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea.
“Several NAFO parties share Canada’s concerns and agree that any quota adjustments must not be excessive and should be consistent with scientific advice”, she added.
According to the Canadian National Post newspaper, a spokesman for the Danish embassy in Ottawa, when contacted, said that only the Greenland home-rule government could comment on the Canadian threat.