“We’re hoping this will lead not so much to dependence on the snow crab, because there’s potential snow crab quota cuts in the upcoming years.”
Mr. Kean said a shrimp license remains a mater of interest to the company. The Fish Processing Licensing Board made a ruling to offer a shrimp license to Beothic Fish Processors last year, but Tom Hedderson, the former fisheries minister, chose not to enforce the decision.
“We brought this issue to the minister in saying, if we had a shrimp plant, we know the quotas have probably been reduced, but with the crab we have now and other species, if the shrimp was there, it could give us extra months of work instead of weeks.”
Mr. Kean estimates that having a shrimp license would give the plant 30 weeks of work versus 20 without it.
“That would be a real plus for us,” he said.
In any event, Mr. Kean said the workers in Valleyfield will do their best to soldier on with the season.
“We’ve still got to be optimistic and positive.”
info@ganderbeacon.ca
.jpg)
.jpg)
