A conservation group is disappointed with the federal fisheries minister’s decision to roll over capelin quotas in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Oceana Canada says capelin stocks in 2J3KL off the northeast coast of Newfoundland are deep in the critical zone and have been for decades.

Oceana’s Dr. Robert Rangeley had called for the closure of the local capelin fishery to allow stocks to rebound, similar to how the stock is managed in Iceland and Norway.

He says rolling last year’s quota over “flies in the face” of everything the minister has been saying to now.

Rangeley says capelin have natural boom and bust cycles and in Iceland and Norway they fish the resource in the boom periods and slack off during the busts. In this case, he says, we’ve been fishing the resource during a decades-long bust.

Executive Director of the Seafood Producer’s Association, Derek Butler, is applauding the minister’s decision. He says it’s clear that the TAC of just over 14,000 tonnes has little impact on the overall stock.

He says the removals here are so low, compared to places like Iceland and Norway where the TAC is in the range of 600,000 tonnes, that it doesn’t contribute to future stock trajectories.