DFO 'disappointed' by France’s pledge to fish off N.L. coast following Saint

DFO 'disappointed' by France’s pledge to fish off N.L. coast following Saint-Pierre visit

Promised exploratory licence would see 1,500 tonne snow crab quota

Canada and France are at odds over fishing jurisdiction 一 just over a week after the leaders of both countries visited the French territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

French President Emmanuel Macron promised an exploratory fishing licence to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon-based ASPM Océan last week. If granted, it would enable the company to catch up to 1,500 tonnes of snow crab per year for five years on the tail of the Grand Banks in zone 3LNO.

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The landed value of that much crab would be an annual total of $20 million Cdn.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a statement Monday evening that France doesn't have the authority to conduct such activity on the Grand Banks’ continental shelf.

Although it is outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone more than 200 nautical miles off the coast, Ottawa submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in 2013 that the area belongs to Canada.

“Canada is disappointed by France’s announcement of their intention to launch an exploratory snow crab fishery,” the federal department wrote in the statement.

DFO is encouraging France to walk back its pledge to fishermen and said it will be working with Global Affairs Canada to decide what happens next.

ASPM Océan owner Eric Cormier told Radio-Canada in French the snow crab fishery would boost the local economy. He also denied claims his crew would be fishing in Canadian waters.

“International waters belong to France just as much as they do to Canada or the United States,” Cormier said.

Cormier — whose business would get the entire 1,500 tonne quota, according to Macron — said the crab would have to be processed in Canada because there isn’t a plant in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

In a video posted to social media, Conservative N.L. MP Clifford Small speculated that allowing the French to fish so close to the province’s coast could harm local harvesters.

Small also called upon Carney to “stop this giveaway of Canadian resources.”

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Maddie Ryan is a reporter with CBC News in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Reach her at madison.ryan@cbc.ca.

With files from Patrick Butler and The Broadcast