Turning to scallops, reluctantly, when the cod fishery fails: A Land & Sea archival special
From 1985: A rush to catch scallops on the Labrador Straits
The Labrador Straits were often considered one of the best places in the province to fish cod, but in 1985 the seasonal fishery had failed. Both inshore fishermen and those on trawlers had a dismal season, so an increasing number of them turned that summer to a totally different kind of seafood: scallops.
Fish plant workers in L'anse au Loup were shucking scallops instead of filleting cod, and the meat inside the shells was selling for as much as $10 a pound in supermarkets, but it wasn't seen as a long-term solution at the time.
"The cod fishery here was a failure this year as far as we're concerned so we decided to turn to scallops so that our employees could get their UIC benefits this coming year," said Gilbert Linstad, who managed the plant in town for the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company.
Between the two small plants in L'anse au Loup and Forteau there were 150 full-time workers and 25 part-time workers, on two shifts, processing scallops, Linstad said.
It was going well so far and the more established scallop operation was expected to continue in Forteau, Linstad said, but the expectation was that the L'anse au Loup plant would go back to buying cod when the fish returned — in part because the more labour-intensive work of processing scallops wasn't profitable.
'What we're doing with the scallops right now is breaking even."
'I couldn't see it lasting'
Some Labrador Straits fishermen were outfitting their boats to catch scallops, or had already done so, even if they remained uncertain about the long-term potential of the fishery.
John Demaresque started fishing scallops the previous year, even though the cod fishery had been good as well. He said he could make a living doing it, but he didn't expect that things could stay at the current pace, with no real policies set to govern the takes or number of licences.
"I don't think there's enough out there to stand what's being taken out right now," Dumaresque said.
"I couldn't see it lasting another seven or eight years. I don't see it."
Linstad at the plant was similarly skeptical of the nascent scallop fishery.
"Everybody is worried about it. We don't think it's out there. We don't think it's going to last," he said.
"But we'll just have to take our chances, I guess, and see what happens."
For more archival Land & Sea episodes, visit the CBC Newfoundland and Labrador YouTube page.