After a decade-long fishing ban, the northern shrimp fishing area off the east coast of Canada will reopen in 2026.

Last Friday, the Fisheries and Food Workers' Union (FFAW), representing the offshore fishing industry of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), issued a press release to celebrate. "Starting from January 1, 2026, the 3L zone will determine the fishing quota, and it will reopen on April 1 next year. Importantly, the zone will be open only to Canadian fishermen, and foreign fleets will be prohibited from entering the area," FFAW stated. The 3L shrimp fishing zone is located within the 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone off the east coast of Canada, where Arctic shrimp fishing began in 1993. Historically, vessels from Canada, the EU, Estonia, and the Faroe Islands have fished in the area. Starting in 2000, the zone first set a fishing limit of 6,000 tons, and the quota was increased several times over the next decade, reaching 30,000 tons in 2009 and 2010. However, after 2013, the Arctic shrimp resources declined rapidly, and NAFO declared a fishing ban in 2015. NAFO noted that the ...