As changes in the Atlantic fishery go, this is a big one — not only for the sheer size of the price tag, but also because it could mark a significant change in direction in the industry.
One of the largest players in the Atlantic fishing industry, Clearwater Seafoods, is to be sold in a billion-dollar deal to a partnership that will include “the single largest
investment in the seafood industry by any Indigenous group in Canada,” according to a joint news release from the players in the deal.
The sale will see all of Clearwater’s assets sold to a partnership between Premium Brands of British Columbia and several Atlantic Canadian First Nations.
As Colin MacDonald, the chair of Clearwater’s board of directors said in a statement, “I am very pleased to recommend this transaction. It represents great value for shareholders, leverages the expertise within the company while advancing reconciliation in Canada. … I am confident that this transaction will enhance the culture of diversity and sustainable seafood excellence that exists at Clearwater.”
Clearwater has been dealing closely with Indigenous groups in recent years, including a 50-year partnership in the surf clam industry signed in 2019 with 13 of Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq bands and the Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador. There was also the recent sale of two of Clearwater’s eight offshore lobster licences. According to a Sept. 8 news release, the Membertou First Nation paid $25 million to purchase the licences.
Now, a coalition of Mi’kmaq First Nations will be borrowing $250 million from the First Nations Finance Authority to pay for its share of the purchase price of the entire Clearwater operation.
As part of the deal, the Mi’kmaq will own all of Clearwater’s Canadian fishing licences.
“This represents a historic opportunity for the Mi’kmaq to strengthen our role in Canada’s commercial fisheries, including playing a much larger part in its unique deep-water fisheries,” Membertou First Nation Chief Terry Paul said in a news release on Monday.
One aspect that might bear careful thought in the next few months?
What the sale could mean to the continued conflict over the Indigenous moderate livelihood lobster fishery. Indigenous lobster fishers are trying to exercise their treaty rights to a moderate fishery (rights that were confirmed years ago by Canada’s Supreme Court) and it has led to violent confrontations with non-Indigenous lobster fishers in Nova Scotia.
While the purchasers maintain that the Clearwater purchase is completely separate from the current moderate livelihood dispute, an ownership stake at the very top of the fishing industry — one that gives Indigenous groups a voice and control like never before — may serve to help temper the current dispute.
Clearwater, after all, is a major buyer of lobster from independent lobster fishers in the province.
And money talks.