The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is cutting haddock fishing quotas in areas off southwestern Nova Scotia, southern New Brunswick and the Gulf of Maine by more than half, shocking some in the industry.

Effective April 1, the quota is going from 7,128 tonnes to 3,069 tonnes, which represents a 57 per cent decrease.

Vanessa Bourgeois, the director of fisheries management and science with the Atlantic Groundfish Council, an organization that represents groundfish harvesters, said this is “a difficult result to grapple with.” In 2022, haddock landed value in Nova Scotia exceeded $14 million, according to the federal government. This figure only includes harvesting, not processing.

“I have had people calling me saying, ‘Vanessa, this is going to be extremely devastating to my business,'” she said.

CBC reached out to DFO asking for an interview, but it sent a statement instead, saying its survey of fish stocks shows declines in haddock since 2016, “with 2024 and 2025 among the lowest observed values in the time series.”

“Bottom water temperatures have been elevated since 2010, potentially affecting haddock behaviour and food availability,” said the department. “Haddock typically occupy shallow inshore areas in the summer and deeper waters in winter; however, it is uncertain how recent changes in temperature impact their distribution.”

Bourgeois said it’s not unprecedented to see changes in the haddock stock index from year to year.

“But I think that what’s a little bit unprecedented is to see, you know, such a large recommended change in catches from one year to the next.”

Alain d’Entremont, president of Scotia Harvest Inc. based in Seabrook, N.S., agreed with Bourgeois that it was an unexpected decision, but understands where it comes from.

“It’s a surprise because it doesn’t necessarily match what we’re seeing on the water,” he said. “But realizing that our fishing is based on harvesting aggregations of fish, we are always curious to see what the survey sees and, and other data that comes in to feed the assessment.”

His company also harvests and processes other species, like red fish, which he said allows him to pivot and avoid harsher financial consequences.

D’Entremont said he does not expect global haddock prices to rise as a consequence of this change because of the significant Northern European global market.

Gibby d’Entremont, owner of Nova’s Finest Fisheries Inc., based in Lower West Pubnico, N.S., said in an interview on Thursday the quota reduction is “a tough pill to swallow.”

He will also have to pivot to processing other species to make up for this change. However, d’Entremont said that it is not always possible to rely on other species to make up for lost revenue.

“It’s going to take a million pounds of production away from the plant of haddock. We can produce 25,000 pounds a day,” said d’Entremont. “It’s just, I guess, 40 days less work a year.”

The department said it will continue to monitor the health of the fish stock and hopes to provide an updated status in the future.

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