Just a couple of weeks after an historic meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Mark Carney on the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, the federal government is “strongly” encouraging the French government to abandon its proposal to launch an exploratory snow crab fishery.

Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson took to social media yesterday to express her disappointment with the proposed fishery beyond the 200 mile limit on the extension of Canada’s continental shelf.

She says Canada and France have well established ways of working through fisheries issues, and while Canada and France met at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization’s annual meeting last week, the matter was not raised by French officials at that time.

Thompson says DFO is working with Global Affairs Canada on next steps, and she’s disappointed that France intends to take that action unilaterally.