Canada urges France to abandon plan for snow crab fishery near Newfoundland and St-Pierre-Miquelon

The Story

Canada’s fisheries minister said she is disappointed that France is acting unilaterally with plans to launch a snow crab fishery in waters near Newfoundland and the French territory of St-Pierre-Miquelon.

Joanne Thompson made the remarks in a social media post, urging France to back off its plan.

The issue follows a visit by Prime Minister Mark Carney to French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month in St-Pierre-Miquelon, an archipelago about 25 kilometres from Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula.

According to franceinfo, Macron promised an exploratory snow crab licence to a local fishing company during the visit.

Thompson said the promised licence would be in waters beyond Canada’s 200-nautical-mile economic exclusion zone, in a region Canada has claimed through the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

She said Fisheries and Oceans Canada is discussing its next steps with Global Affairs Canada.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham said he shares the federal government’s disappointment, adding that France had no authority to make such a decision.

Wakeham’s statement came as well against the backdrop of concerns from the inshore fishing sector, where the president of the union representing inshore fishers in Newfoundland and Labrador, Dwan Street, said she didn’t foresee Canada allowing French snow crab licences in the area.

Street said, “Those are Canadian resources,” and added she was confident the issue would be dealt with quickly by Global Affairs Canada and the minister’s office.

Street also said fishers from St-Pierre and Miquelon often sell catch to Canadian processors and rely on Canadian ports for maintenance and supplies, calling it “a strange one” to risk that relationship.

Snow crab is Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest and most lucrative fishery, worth about $708 million in landed value in 2025, according to provincial government figures.