Ottawa says France has issued no snow crab licence off Newfoundland despite Macron's pledge

Ottawa says France has not issued a snow crab licence for waters off Newfoundland, nearly two weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron promised one to a fishing company in the French archipelago of St-Pierre-Miquelon. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson said Friday evening that federal officials had been in contact with their French counterparts and confirmed no new licence had been granted, according to a Canadian Press report published by CBC News on Oct. 4.

Thompson's statement drew a firm line around the resource. "Canada affirms our claim to the extension of Canada's continental shelf, which includes all snow crab in this area," she said, adding that "Canada does not agree with any foreign snow crab fishing in this area." She said any licensing questions would have to go through formal, well-established processes between the two countries, and that no such talks have taken place.

The dispute dates to Sept. 21, when Macron toured the port of Saint-Pierre on the last day of his visit to the islands. Saint-Pierre et Miquelon La 1ère reported that he committed to an exploratory licence letting local fishing company ASPM Océan harvest 1,500 tonnes of snow crab a year for five years beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit, on the continental shelf. The broadcaster said the guarantee would allow the company to invest in a new vessel, because its offshore ship, the Terre-Neuvas, is not equipped for crab.

The promise appeared to catch Canadian officials off guard. It was reported a day after Prime Minister Mark Carney met Macron in the French islands, the first official visit to St-Pierre-Miquelon by a Canadian prime minister.

Pressure has built since. La 1ère reported on Oct. 1 that Conservative MPs from Newfoundland, including Clifford Small and Jonathan Rowe, had pressed the federal government, and that Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham posted on Facebook that France has no authority to fish snow crab on Canada's continental shelf and that he had spoken directly with Thompson. ASPM Océan owner Éric Cormier told the broadcaster the company has no ambition to fish in Canadian waters, arguing the licence covers international waters in fishing zones 3O, 3N and 3L. France's state representative in the islands said no licence had yet been issued and that officials were working with Canada on the matter.

The legal backdrop is decades old. Canada and France are both signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which coastal states have sovereign rights over the natural resources of the seabed extending from their coasts. When that continental margin reaches beyond 200 nautical miles, a country can ask the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to recognize rights over the extended area. Canada filed such a submission for its Atlantic coast, including Newfoundland, in 2013. France filed one for St-Pierre-Miquelon in 2014, saying it overlapped with Canada's claim, particularly off Nova Scotia, and Canada responded by rejecting any French claims outside a 1992 boundary decision.

That 1992 ruling gave the islands a 24-nautical-mile zone plus a narrow 10.5-mile corridor, nicknamed the French Baguette, that runs south and stops short of Canada's 200-nautical-mile limit. Kevin Anderson, head of the School of Fisheries at Memorial University's Marine Institute in St. John's, told The Canadian Press the area where Macron reportedly promised a licence lies beyond Canada's 200-mile limit but within its extended continental shelf.

Anderson said Canada still has a strong claim even though both UN submissions remain unresolved. "Canada has been fishing these crab in this area for a long time," he said, noting that past court cases have established Canadian jurisdiction over the region's snow crab. He added that it helps that snow crab live on the seabed, which is precisely what the UN commission deals with.

The stakes are high for both communities. Fishing is a main economic driver of St-Pierre-Miquelon, home to roughly 5,800 people, and, according to footage published by franceinfo, Macron told fishers during his visit that he hoped to start "calm but constructive debates" with Canada over the shelf. Thompson said Newfoundland and Labrador and the islands have been close partners and she hopes that continues, but that "Canada will always defend the interests of the harvesters, families, and communities in Newfoundland and Labrador who count on the snow crab fishery."