Preliminary results for the 2019 Commercial Fisheries season in Quebec

Total Landings

Preliminary data for the 2019 fishing season in Quebec show landings valued at $378 million. This represents a 10% increase over 2018 (the data are preliminary and dated January 19, 2020). Historically, this is the second best year after 2017.

Landings remained stable compared with 2018, at 45,710 tonnes.

Marine Sectors

In terms of value, 49% of landings in 2018 were registered from ports in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Lower St. Lawrence ($186 million), followed by ports in the Magdalen Islands (31%, $118 million) and the North Shore (19%, $73 million).

The Gaspé-Lower St. Lawrence (+20%) and the Magdalen Islands (+14%) saw a substantial increase in landed values in 2019.

Conversely, the landed value decreased by 12% on the North Shore in 2019 due to quota reductions in several snow crab areas north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Species

As in prior years, the snow crab was Quebec’s most lucrative species in 2019 based on the landed value (46% of the total) which totalled $174 million, representing a 3% increase over 2018. Historically, this is the second best year after 2017.

In 2019, lobster harvesters enjoyed their best year ever, with a 20% increase over 2018 and landings valued at $142 million. Lobster thus accounts for 38% of the landed value in Quebec.

Thanks to a slightly higher catch rate and an 8.4% price increase, the landed value of shrimp jumped 12% in 2019 compared with 2018, making shrimp the third most important species in Quebec (8%), with a value of $31 million in 2019.

Groundfish and pelagic fish (herring, mackerel and capelin) also saw a strong 2019 season overall, with landed value increases of 16% and 5%, respectively, compared with 2018. This was not the case for molluscs (including echinoderms), whose landed value decreased by 4% overall.

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