Kuujjuaq, Quebec, July 22, 2013-Makivvik and Newfound Resources Limited (NRL) today signed a joint development agreement for the shrimp fishery in Ungava Bay and Hudson Strait.
Makivvik has been a license holder for 34 years and first identified the shrimp in Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay in 1979. Newfound Resources has been a northern Shrimp license holder since 1991.
Makivvik and NRL have been partners in the shrimp industry for 6 years. When the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada approved, earlier this month, allocations for pink shrimp (Pandalus borealis) and pink striped shrimp (Pandalus montagui) in the new area identified as NU/NK east and west, it was agreed to expand the partnership into this new area.
The agreement states that Newfound Resources will have the responsibility of harvesting and selling the new allocation of the succulent tasting pink striped shrimp into world markets.
Michael Gordon 1st Vice President at Makivvik stated, “This is a relatively unknown resource being fished in a new area far from the normal fishing grounds. The striped shrimp is new to much of the market, so it has to be developed over the long term. The scientific knowledge and our experimental fishery of last year gave us promising results. Our partnership with NRL has proven successful and we are happy to expand it.”
Brian McNamara, CEO of Newfound Resources added, “We look forward to jointly developing this newly allocated Ungava Bay resource. The market for montagui shrimp is much smaller than the other pink shrimp species but we welcome the challenge of expanding the customer base, especially within China, for this fishery adjacent to Nunavik. NRL is pleased to further broaden our partnership with Makivvik and – with the assistance of the Kativik Regional Government (KRG)- to the promotion of Pandalus montagui under the Ungava Brand”
For further information:
Neil Greig
Makivvik
819 964 2925
n_greig@makivik.org