Soft European market for dogfish results in layoff of 40
By Carla Allen
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
A soft market in Germany for dogfish is the reason behind the layoff of 40 seasonal employees at a fish processing company in Lower Wedgeport.
Ocean Pride Fisheries was created in 1989 to process under-utilized species like the dogfish and sea cucumber.
Last year the company only worked on dogfish for two weeks, says president Milton LeBlanc.
“This year we just opened up for a couple of weeks and it’s not viable. Not the way the markets are in Germany,” he said.
Consumers are receiving misinformation about the dogfish population, added LeBlanc, which he blames on groups like Greenpeace.
“The dogfish, we’re not even touching the quota,” he said.
“The total quota for Atlantic Canada is five million pounds. We’re only taking something like four per cent of the total stock.”
In March, Ocean Pride Fisheries bought North Lake Fish Co-op in P.E.I.
LeBlanc says that plant will be processing lobster from Maine in a few weeks, along with tuna and herring roe in the fall.
The layoffs in Wedgeport are temporary, says LeBlanc. The company, which employs close to 115, is working with DFO and a consulting firm to boost markets in Europe.
by Carla Allen/The Vanguard 
Sonja Fordham
Comment online since July 4th 2008It’s been a long time since spiny dogfish were “under-utilized”. A decade of unrestricted fisheries (which usually target pregnant females because they fetch the best price) led to a 75% drop in the Northwest Atlantic population of reproductive female dogfish and an IUCN classification of “Endangered”. This damage will take decades to repair, but the situation is far from unique. Most targeted shark fisheries around the world have been unsustainable due to lack of restriction and the biological limitations of the animal (slow growth, late maturity and few young leave most sharks exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing). It’s about time that fishery managers learned from past mistakes and took extra care to limit shark catches from the outset of a fishery. Precautionary conservation action is the best way to avoid economic hardship. In the meantime, expect more and more consumers on every continent to start looking for more sustainable seafood options.