Student Independent Projects Environmental Studies 2015: An analysis of Newfoundland and Labrador's shrimp fishery crisis using the Provincial Coastal and Oceans Management Strategy and Policy Framework

• Main Author: Blackwood, April
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland 2015
• Subjects: Newfoundland; northern shrimp
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/11927/; https://research.library.mun.ca/11927/1/April_Blackwood.pdf

The ocean is one of Earth's most valuable natural resources. From regulating the climate to providing a source of food, the ocean has an interrelated economic, ecological and social importance. The economic, environmental and cultural history of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) are all intrinsically linked to the Atlantic Ocean and its resources. Protection of the coastal and ocean environments was not only important to the province’s past but is also widely recognized as vitally important for the future of the province. In June of 2011 the provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador introduced a Coastal and Ocean Management Strategy and Policy Framework (Government of NL, 2011a). The framework is designed to recognize the diversity of various stakeholders who rely on healthy coastal and ocean areas and to work together to provide long-term sustainable use of resources. One of the goals of the policy framework is to guide the coordination of provincial coastal and ocean policy in relation to priority issues identified for the province, with increased collaboration between governments, stakeholders, and communities (Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2010). This research paper asks the question: how might the province’s new coastal and oceans management strategy and policy framework be used to address major coastal and oceans problems? To answer this question, the paper applies the policy framework to an emerging crisis in one of the province’s most important fisheries – the northern shrimp fisheries. Despite fundamental social-ecological transformations in recent decades, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to rely heavily on the ocean for the fishery resources it provides. Following the collapse of the cod fishery in 1992, and the subsequent moratoria on cod and other groundfish fisheries that put tens of thousands of people in the province out of work, many harvesters and processors in coastal communities in the province turned to increasingly lucrative and abundant crab and shrimp ...