Nunavut loses out with turbot quota transfer: Inuit leaders

Inuit leaders in Nunavut say they are disappointed by federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn's decision to transfer valuable turbot quotas to companies outside the territory.

Officials with the Baffin Fisheries Coalition, aNunavut not-for-profit fishery development organization, recently learned that Newfoundland-based Seafreez Foods Inc. had requested that its turbot quotabe transferred to other companies in southern Canada.

TheSeafreez quota is fora fishing zone located off the southeast coast of Baffin Island. The allowable catch for thezone, known as Division 0B,is 5,500 tonnes of turbot. Of that, Nunavut has a 1,500-tonne share, and Seafreez had a 1,900-tonne share before the transfer was approved.

The Baffin coalition argued that Nunavut interests should have been consulted before Hearn approved Seafreez's transfer.

"The issue here is that they should have consulted with Nunavut stakeholders," Baffin Fisheries Coalition CEO Jerry Ward said.

"There should have been a stipulation here, from the minister himself, that first priority or first refusal for the purchase of these quotas should have gone to Nunavut stakeholders."

The coalition's position is backed by officials with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, who say Hearn's department is required, under Nunavut's land claim agreement, to seek the board's advice before making such decisions.

"If you look at the overall total allowable catch in the Division 0B turbot fishing area, there's 5,500 metric tonnes of turbot available to be fished from that area. Out of that, 1,500 has been assigned to Nunavut, which translates to 26 per cent," wildlife board chairman Joe Tigullagaq said Tuesday.

He and Ward agreed that had Nunavut been awarded Seafreez's 1,900-tonne allocation, the increased catch would help make the territory's emerging fishery significantly more viable.

"Provide more jobs, look at infrastructure within communities whether there would be plants or other types of processing, small vessel operations, as an example," Ward said.

Fisheries Department says it followed policy

James Eetoolook, acting president of Inuit land-claims organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said his group is asking Hearn to reverse his decision and give Nunavut's fishery the opportunity to acquire Seafreez's quota.

"It means another loss of potential to create the desperately needed jobs for Inuit, and revenue for Nunavut's developing fishing industry," Eetoolook said.

But in Ottawa, an official with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said there is no policy requiring the minister to give anyone including Nunavut the first right of refusal in such matters.

"If they're interested in this approach, we can take that to the minister and see if he agrees with it, but at the moment, there is no such requirement," said Barry Rashotte, the department's associate director-general for resource management.

Tigullagaq said the Fisheries Department has a very good working relationship with his organization, but he feels the federal department is not familiar enough with processes related to the Nunavut land claims agreement.