Broughton Island (June 02/03) - The Government of Nunavut is furious with a federal decision that gives almost half of a shrimp quota increase in Davis Strait to Southern interests.

Premier Paul Okalik said the government is considering suing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) over the decision.

The DFO last week announced a 2,000 tonne increase -- to about 14,000 tonnes -- in the shrimp fishery zone off the east coast of Baffin Island near Qikiqtarjuaq.

About 51 per cent of the increase goes to Nunavut with most of the rest going to firms in Atlantic Canada that already hold licences to fish in the area.

Most of the companies are located in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Okalik called the decision an "appalling injustice."

The shrimp fishery in Nunavut-adjacent waters totals about 25,000 tonnes a year.

At $2,600 per landed tonne, it is worth an estimated $65 million a year.

The territory was hoping for 80 to 90 per cent of the quota increase, in line with typical fishery allocations in Atlantic Canada.

Nunavut now has 19 per cent of the pink shrimp allocation in its adjacent waters.

Okalik said that robs the territory of any chance to build the industry.

"We can't invest in vessels and supporting facilities because it isn't viable to do that with such a meagre allocation," he said.

"This just continues the vicious cycle we are in. It doesn't bring much hope to the territory."

The premier said he called federal Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault shortly after the decision and advised him to "consult a map."

Okalik said Thibault confessed to not being "fully informed" on the Nunavut fishery prior to making the decision.

Thibault promised Okalik he would consult further with DFO officials, but later defended the allocation in the House of Commons.

"We've made a very good decision," he said.

Okalik said the GN is "getting legal advice and considering our options."

"Unacceptable giveaway"

Both Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) have denounced the DFO decision.

NTI vice-president Raymond Ningeocheak called it an "unacceptable giveaway" that violates sections of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement dealing with the allocation of commercial fishing licences.

NWMB chair Ben Kovic said the allocation is "consistent with the federal government's past practice of marginalizing access by Nunavut shrimp fishers to their adjacent waters."

Baffin Fisheries Coalition CEO Jerry Ward called it "a surprise and a major disappointment."

Ward said the Southern licence holders just given a bigger quota share have never fully utilized the shrimp allocation they have in Nunavut waters.

Prior to the increase, that totalled about 10,000 tonnes of shrimp a year, he said.

"Typically they have been harvesting 50 per cent cent of that," he said.

"That is what infuriates me the most about this decision."

Panel ignored

GN Sustainable Development Minister Olayuk Akesuk criticized Thibault for ignoring the findings of an independent panel on marine resource access last year.

The panel recommended that no further fishery allocations be awarded to non-Nunavut interests until the territory had "a major share" of its adjacent resource.

Akesuk said the federal minister agreed with that strategy on accepting the report in November.

Nova Scotia NDP MP Alexa McDonough blasted Thibault's "convenient memory lapse" in the House of Commons.

The GN's Carey Bonnell, deputy minister of sustainable development, said the territory is now waiting with bated breath for the DFO's pending decision on turbot allocations in Nunavut adjacent waters.

Bonnell said the DFO is expected to increase the quota from 4,000 to 8,000 tonnes in Northern Davis Strait.

The territory currently has 58 per cent of the turbot quota in its adjacent waters.

The GN has argued that 100 per cent of any turbot quota increase should go to Nunavut and not to Greenland or Atlantic Canada interests.