by Marc Laframboise MMNN Contributor

The Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation is situated along the Restigouche River and located within the unceded territory of the Mi’gmaq. Listuguj is a beautiful community of approximately 4500 members and over 2000 residents. Over the past decade, Listuguj has made significant investments in their fisheries governance and community-owned Commercial Fishery Enterprise (CFE). Under their CFE, Listuguj has invested in a state-of-the-art snow crab harvesting vessel, which is currently being built and on track to be operational and in the water for the 2022 Spring snow crab harvesting season.

About 90% of the community’s commercial fishing revenue comes from snow crab harvesting. The remaining 10% comes from the harvesting of shrimp.  Listuguj owns seven snow crab fishing vessels and two shrimp fishing vessels. The new vessel under construction will bring the community’s snow crab vessel fleet to eight.  The CFE has approximately 55-60 employees, including 40-45 deckhands, 8-9 captains, 6 in administration, and 1 equipment and task coordinator.

The snow crab commercial fishery has been lucrative.  In the last five years, the price of snow crab has doubled, and the stock is healthy.  Although there were lower c ...