Valuing the sea

Comic strip created by Audrey Desaulniers and the École des Pêches et de l’aquaculture du Québec.
A collaboration of Fortin Mongeau, F., Fontaine, P.-O., Glazer-Allard, J.-D., Desaulniers, A., Joseph, E., Landry, A.-J., Sutton, T.

[Illustration of three lobsters on a marine background. A lobster trap in the background].

Narration: Just another day in lobster fishing area 4A…

[Close-up illustration of lobsters talking to each other].

Lobster 1: Hey, Richard, if you had the choice between giving 5 of your friends to the fishermen all at once or maybe giving 6 over 5 years, what would you choose?

[Illustration of a fishing boat on the water].

Lobster 2: That’s quite the question, Gérard!

[Illustration of Pierre-Olivier Fontaine and Félix Fortin Mongeau in front of a building along the coast].

Narration: Yet, these are the kinds of philosophical questions that Pierre-Olivier Fontaine and Félix Fortin Mongeau, respectively professors of fishing and philosophy at ÉPAQ, posed to the fishing community of the Percé region.
Why such questions? Not to better understand the values of lobsters, but rather those of the population in relation to the management of fishery resources.

[Illustration of three people sorting lobsters on the coast].

Their goal? To listen more closely to Gaspesians and fishing industry stakeholders…

[Illustration of various marine species and consumers at a table].

To create a resource management model that reflects the values of the local people.

[Illustration of a student talking with another person].

To answer their questions, their team, made up of students, surveyed the stakeholders. Perhaps you have seen them at the local grocery store?

Student: Do you agree? “Marine environments must be protected because of their beauty.”

[Illustration of the student, seated and talking with two other people].

Person 1: For me, it is important to have access to the resource.

Person 2: Personally, I want to be able to make money.

Narration: They then brought together fishers, factory workers, fishing crews, and citizens from outside the community around a discussion table and presented more concrete scenarios of resource management.

[Illustration of the student listening, seated].

These discussions brought to light the key concerns of stakeholders regarding the challenges for resource management.

Person 2 from the previous scene: I want to protect the resource but also earn money from it.

Narration: Then, shared values and certain divisions emerged.

[Illustration of a person facing four land-use scenarios: subsistence fishing, commercial fishing, natural environment, national parks].

For example, in these scenarios, Mylène, member of a fishing crew, had to rank 4 land-use plans in order of preference.

Mylène: For me, being able to feed my family is very important… more so than protecting the industry! I would choose option no. 1 first. I really don’t like the waste that exists in the industry…

(Fictional situation).

[Illustration of Mylène aboard a boat in front of incidental catches with a colleague reading a newspaper].

Colleague: Just 19% of harvested marine resources end up on the plates of Quebecers.

Mylène: !

[Illustration of Mylène throwing the catches into the water, surrounded by seagulls].

Narration: That same morning… Mylène had caught 200 accidental bycatch that she simply had to give to the seagulls…

Mylène: Such a waste…

Colleague: Couldn’t we reuse everything we catch instead?

[Illustration of a compass].

Narration: Alongside the round table discussions, the two researchers created a values compass, which operated much like an electoral compass.
This tool allows them to visualize the public’s priorities more easily!

[Illustration Pierre-Olivier and Félix holding lobster claws and doing calculations].

Pierre-Olivier and Félix then examined the participants’ choices. They debated, reflected, and put their minds to work to clearly highlight the key values discussed.

[Illustration of a dual-axis graph: economic versus moral and ecosystemic versus individual].

Finally, they plotted the participants’ values on the compass and envisioned a new management model that incorporated the needs of the population!

[Illustration of a seagull on the water next to an immersed lobster trap].

Let’s take a concrete look at how this model could be useful to us…

[Illustration of a person speaking to an assembly].

Advocate for a participatory approach

[Illustration of a cage with buoys on top].

Create educational programs aligned with ecological challenges.

[Illustration of two people holding hands].

Balance food autonomy and economy.

[Text box].

Our new management approach could, for example, incorporate Mylène’s desire for food autonomy by encouraging initiatives that promote the sale of lesser-known species to the local population. It could also implement solutions to ecological problems that matter to the community.

[Illustration of two people holding lobsters and crabs in their hands. The lobsters have a symbol of Quebec attached to a claw].

Do you have good ideas that could change certain practices? Take up the torch and implement your vision!

Step by step, with each action grounded in our shared values… we can begin… to build initiatives… where more people feel involved.

That way, we’ll have taken real steps toward more responsible fishing—fishing that aligns with what truly matters to us!

This project was made possible thanks to funding from the Government of Québec, the École des pêches et de l’aquaculture du Québec, and CIRADD.

[Logos of the Government of Québec, the École des pêches et de l’aquaculture du Québec, and CIRADD].