Redfish Quota Gambles with Stock Recovery, and Coastal Futures
Press Release Date: June 17, 2025
Media contacts: Vaishali Dassani, Oceana Canada, vdassani@oceana.ca, 647-294-3335;
Rose-Marie Ménard, Pilot PMR, rosemarie.menard@pilotpmr.com, +1-579-622-9925
Halifax, NS, Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People – On June 16, 2025, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced the 2025-26 management plan for the Unit 1 redfish fishery. The plan sets a total allowable catch of 60,000 tonnes across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Oceana Canada recognizes the second year of the commercial redfish fishery and the economic opportunity it brings coastal communities, especially as northern shrimp and other stocks decline.
The management plan maintains some key safeguards, including bycatch limits for depleted groundfish and monitoring requirements set out in related rebuilding plans. However, it also expands quota access through larger reserve and experimental allocations, while weakening other measures, such as rules on gear, depth, and season.
This decision comes at a precarious moment for the population. The current redfish boom stems from a rare recruitment event in 2011–13, when a surge of young fish entered the population. Since then, recruitment has remained low. Even without fishing, DFO projects the population will decline over the next nine years. If fishing continues at the current quota, a collapse of up to 90 per cent is projected within six years. By prioritizing short-term volume over long-term value, DFO is putting ecosystems, markets, and coastal livelihoods at risk.
Oceana Canada recommends a phased-in quota starting at 25,000 tonnes, increasing only if environmental conditions allow. This approach would protect progress rebuilding the population, support market development, and create a more resilient fishery for the future.
Response to the management plan and quota from Rebecca Schijns, Fishery Scientist, Oceana Canada:
“A quota decision of this scale, especially in the face of low demand and minimal infrastructure, is not just an ecological gamble, it’s poor business strategy. Flooding the market with up to 60,000 tonnes of small redfish, when demand and prices are low, undermines the fishery’s long-term value. With limited processing capacity and no well-established markets, this quota invites oversupply and wasted opportunity. Quotas must reflect ecological realities and the capacity of coastal communities to harvest and benefit sustainably. A phased approach, building toward a higher quota, would help create a stable, profitable, and resilient fishery over time — giving the population room to sustain growth and the industry space to adapt. Instead, the government prioritized short-term volume over long-term value, putting groundfish recovery, redfish growth and the fishery’s long-term future at risk.”
Oceana Canada was established as an independent charity in 2015 and is part of the largest international
advocacy group dedicated solely to ocean conservation. Oceana Canada has successfully campaigned to ban single-use plastics, end the shark fin trade, make rebuilding depleted fish populations the law, improve the way fisheries are managed and protect marine habitat. We work with civil society, academics, fishers, Indigenous Peoples and the federal government to return Canada’s formerly vibrant oceans to health and abundance. By restoring Canada’s oceans, we can strengthen our communities, reap greater economic and nutritional benefits and protect our future. Find out more at Oceana.ca.
