Race against time for the Islands Fishermen’s Cooperative – Portail des Îles de la Madeleine

The Îles-de-la-Madeleine Fishermen’s Cooperative is working hard to ensure everything is ready for its first season of activity as 7^e lobster buyer from the archipelago. The organization has less than five months to set up its new industrial space and complete the recruitment of its team.

The organization which was finally granted a buyer’s permit by Quebec in October recently purchased land and industrial building on the tip of Havre-aux-Maisons.

For us, this is an extremely significant acquisition.says the president of the cooperative, Olivier Renaud.

This is the building where the equipment of the bankrupt company Total Océan is located.

The location is very strategicunderlines Mr. Renaud. We couldn’t have asked for better. You have to be on the water’s edge to have a constant supply of fresh water for the fishponds and you have to be in an industrial zone. These two parameters at the same time in the Islands are something quite rare.

Work began on Monday to develop the area so that live lobsters could be stored there.

Thus, three lobster tanks will be set up in the part of the building which until now served as a boathouse. The building will also be expanded to create work space.

The contractor responsible for the work, Construction des Îles, must of course have closed the site before the start of the lobster fishing season scheduled for May 3.

We have no time to waste or spare. From the start, our story has been quite exceptional and we mobilized very quickly because we had no choice.

The Madelinian cooperative is only authorized to purchase catches from its 32 members. According to the president, this number is reasonable to launch the activities of the cooperative as a buyer.

It’s not desirable to be too big, we like the format so farindicates Olivier Renaud.

The president of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine Fishermen’s Cooperative, Olivier Renaud, believes that his organization will be able to do everything possible for this first year of activity as a lobster buyer. (Archive photo) Photo: - / Isabelle Larose

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Recruitment in progress

The organization wants to hire 22 to 25 people to complete its team. This includes administration, seasonal workers at the fishpond and on the docksspecifies Olivier Renaud, emphasizing that the management team has already been trained.

We have demand and people come to see us, which encourages us a lotadds Mr. Renaud. We really want to prioritize local workers and we are really confident that we can meet the labor needs on the Islands.

The president of the fishermen’s cooperative believes that everything will be ready for the start of the fishing season.

The work is beginning and will be delivered before fishing, the equipment is ordered, the job offers are about to be launched. Everything is in place to secure our operations.

He says he is particularly proud of the work accomplished so far by the cooperative, which has taken many steps to convince Quebec to grant it a permit, despite an initial refusal.

It’s crucial, the progress we’ve madeunderlines President Olivier Renaud. We overcame many pitfalls and were able to demonstrate our resilience and solidarity. We were able to mobilize and put everything in place to carry out our project.

What future for Total Océan equipment?

The Îles-de-la-Madeleine Fishermen’s Cooperative has started discussions with Écofaune boréale, the new owner of Total Océan’s property, in order to negotiate a lease. The equipment allowing the distillation of seal oil for pharmaceutical purposes is still located in the building recently purchased by the cooperative.

Everything is to be defined, there was no lease. We are starting a process of discussions with them, I don’t want to get too far aheadindicates Olivier Renaud.

The equipment now belonging to Écofaune boréale only occupies part of the building. (Archive photo) Photo: Courtesy of Total Océan

This is not a space that we plan to use in the very short term, but the discussions are not completedhe adds without clearly stating whether the Cooperative wishes to maintain this equipment in its premises in the long term.