Tag Archives: lobster fishermen
The Truth About Offshore Wind: Busting Oil Money Myths and Misinformation
The various organizations, news outlets, and elected representatives that have been promoting misinformation about offshore wind have two things in common: 1) conservative politics and 2) ties to the oil industry. Seemingly locally run nonprofits have been leading public anti-offshore wind campaigns, purportedly out of concern about the dangers offshore wind farms present to whales and local economies. Yet many of these same organizations have proven ties to major conservative lobbyist groups funded by “Big Oil.” Meanwhile, both local and congressional conservative politicians have jumped on these misinformation campaigns, especially in the Northeast, where the first offshore wind farms are set to be constructed this year. This is despite several state and national polls showing that Americans overwhelmingly support the construction of offshore wind farms. >click to read< 08:04
Low prices, high costs face southwest Nova Scotia lobster fishermen
As captains and crews wait for an opening in the weather to drop their gear off southwest Nova Scotia, they’ve also got other big worries: low prices for their catch and historically high costs. The price at the wharf is expected to be somewhere around $6 to $6.25 a pound, down nearly half from $11.25 on opening day for Lobster Fishing Area 34 last season. The neighbouring LFA 33, which runs from about Halifax to Cape Sable Island, opened earlier this week but weather has meant most captains there have only had the opportunity to haul their traps once. >click to read< 16:08
How could Maine lobster get off Monterey Bay Aquarium’s red list?
Jeff White, a lobsterman of 30 years out of York Harbor, said lobstermen from Maine are not hitting or having gear tangled in the endangered North Atlantic right whale’s path, which is the basis for all the increased regulations and legal battles in the first place. “Anyone using this body of water, interacting with the right whales, needs to sit at the table… you can’t just pick one, especially one that has no impact,” White said. “If you are interested in rebuilding the right whale population that is the wrong road to take.” But if the lobster industry wants to be taken off Monterey Bay Aquarium’s red list, and to be taken off suspension from the MSC, what exactly needs to be done? Video, >click to read< 09:34
With thousands of traps lost to Fiona, N.B. lobster fishermen ask for extended season
The fishing season for Zone 25, which includes fishermen along the Northumberland Strait in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, began on Aug. 9 and was scheduled to end on Oct. 12, said Luc LeBlanc, an advisor with the Maritime Fishermen’s Union. However, with early reports those fishermen may have lost about half of all of their lobster traps, LeBlanc said the plan is to ask the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the season to be extended until at least Oct. 15. LeBlanc said there are 388 lobster fishermen in Zone 25, with each using 250 traps at a time. That means around 42,000 traps are unaccounted for. >click to read< 07:35
I’m for the local guys
Just to let you know, in case you might have forgotten, that I am a Hoosier. I was born and raised in Indiana. I am from away. I tell you this stuff to let you know that while I am from away, my bride convinced me to adopt this state and switch my allegiance to reflect the views of my friends and neighbors. So, I think it is a damn shame that a scientific organization, from away, from California, no less, declared war on my local friends, the lobster fishermen. Somehow, without evidence, a respected marine scientific institution encouraged the nation to eliminate lobsters from stores and menus. Despite their statistical evidence to the contrary, they decreed that lobster fishing gear is the main reason the population of the mighty right whale is in peril. >click to read< 07:36
Lobster fishermen angry about low prices refuse to fish
About 250 southeastern New Brunswick lobster fishermen gathered outside the new Homarus Centre in Shediac on Thursday after refusing to fish. The fishermen say prices are 40 per cent lower than last year, when they were getting $7 for a pound of lobster. This season, they said, they’re getting $4.50 to $5 a pound, which they say isn’t profitable with the higher expenses they’ve faced because of inflation. Luc Leblanc, the spokesperson from the Maritime Fishermen’s Union said the gathering was peaceful. “The fishermen just wanted to let their feelings known and to make a little bit of a splash, which is what they did.” Geoff Irvine of the Lobster Council Canada said prices are declining because of consumer behaviour and market patterns. >click to read< 18:21
Lobster fishing is not profitable this year, fishermen explain
Rampant inflation and cooling markets are hitting Maritime lobster fishers hard. Six days after the start of fishing in the Northumberland Strait, some of them are receiving a price up to 40% lower than last year for their catch. A fishermen’s organization believes that this is not profitable. The atmosphere was not festive at the Cap-Pelé wharf on Tuesday afternoon. Fishermen have learned what price they will get for lobster this season: between $4.50 and $5 a pound. Last year at this time they were getting $7 a pound. We have prices, but it is not strong. They say it’s blocked everywhere, that lobster doesn’t sell, that’s the reason, explains Captain Guy Cormier. I take it one day at a time, we’re not dead today. >click to read< 07:50
Lobster Fishermen in Mexico’s Yucatán Organize to Protect Their Catch
For the last four months, fishermen in the community of Río Lagartos, Yucatán, have operated as a vigilante group to protect lobster populations on local fishing grounds, according to a report (photos) by newspaper Milenio. The group is made up of five fishing cooperatives, who stated that a sharp rise in illegal fishing had led to a rapid decline in lobster stocks. The fishermen reported that on July 1, the first day of the open season, which usually yields the largest lobster hauls, the catch was two-thirds lower than usual. Where each boat would normally catch 60 kilograms of lobster a day, they barely made it to 20 kilograms this year, Milenio reported. >click to read< 19:14
Proposed herring quota would put lobster fishermen in a pinch for bait
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is pursuing a commercial quota on herring for areas off Southwest Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. DFO is proposing the use of a new stock modeling process, that could see quotas slashed to 13,050 tonnes from 35,000 tonnes, a 62 per cent reduction. Commercial herring fishing operators have already voiced their opposition to those plans, including Bay of Fundy Herring Industry who in a statement proposed a compromise of lowering their quota to 25,000 tonnes from 35,000 tonnes for the 2022 season. >click to read< 19:52
Prince Edward Island: Lobster fishermen sail out to start the spring season
It’s setting day, the start of the season when fishermen drop their traps and begin the two months of intensive work of bringing ashore the east coast’s famous delicacy. The season is starting with lobster prices high. While prices are up, so are costs. Diesel is at record-high prices, and bait is harder to come by with a moratorium on herring and mackerel fisheries. photos, >click to read< 08:47
How lobster fishing began in southern Maine
“Until the twentieth century lobsters could be pulled out from under the rocks,” the preservation society said. “The smaller ones of two pounds or less were often thrown away. Men in a variety of boats, dories, peapods and recently the easily recognized lobster boats powered by motors, set traps along the ledges. Increasing numbers of pots have been attached on a line to a buoy on which each man’s colors can be identified. Most lobstermen spent the winter months making traps, painting buoys and knitting bait bags. Lobstering was usually done in the summer when lobsters moved into warmer waters.” photos, >click to read< 21:37
Lobster fishermen oppose plans to build land-based salmon farm
Two southwest Nova Scotia lobster fishermen say an aquaculture company’s proposal to build a land-based salmon farm south of Yarmouth, N.S., could threaten the region’s coastal environment and economy. They want the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth to reject an application by Boreal Salmon Inc. to build a facility on wetland in Chebogue Point. The New Brunswick-based company, backed by Chilean investors, has already bought about 22 hectares in the area and a public meeting about their proposed project is scheduled for July 20. >click to read< 18:20
Enviros and lobster fishermen are unhappy with proposed federal regulations to protect right whales
In a public hearing Tuesday night, conservationists and fishermen alike roundly criticized federal regulators’ proposed changes in fishing rules to protect endangered whales from fishing gear. Much of the discussion focused on so-called ropeless lobster fishing technology, which allows traps to be located and retrieved using remote-control systems. Conservationists see that as the ultimate solution, But many Maine fishermen scoff at the idea, and Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher agreed it’s not practical for Maine’s diverse fishing grounds. >click to read< 15:33
P.E.I. lobster fishermen want exemption from new gear rule aimed at protecting whales
Island lobster fishermen should be be exempt from using gear designed to break free in the event of a whale entanglement, according to the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA). The PEIFA wrote a letter to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to request lobster fishermen be exempt from new rules, which are expected to become mandatory by the end of 2022. The group says sighting data shows the endangered North Atlantic right whale is rarely in P.E.I. lobster fishing grounds. >click to read< 10:46
Richard “Max” Strahan ‘Man in Final Legal Effort to Protect Whales
Strahan seeks a court order to prevent the state from licensing vertical buoy ropes and to make Massachusetts revoke all existing licenses. The ropes connect traps and pots under water to buoys on the surface so lobstermen can more easily find their catch.,,, Strahan distinctly remembers his first case, Strahan v. Coxe, which he frequently cites. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said in that 1996 opinion that gillnets and lobster gear have harmed endangered whales “and are likely to continue doing so.”(But he never mentioned ship strikes!) >click to read< 10:12
Lobster fishermen call for ‘dumping day’ changes
Repeated delays to the start of the lobster fishing season in part of Nova Scotia’s most lucrative fishery have some harvesters calling for a change to the rules to prevent the money-burning setback in years ahead. The launch of the season, known as dumping day, happens on the last Monday in November for Lobster Fishing Areas 33 and 34, two large fishing regions that wrap around the southwest coast of the province.,, Lobster fisherman Michael Larkin said he’d like to see some flexibility added to the rules around dumping day,,, >click to read< 07:56
Number One? Bridlington could officially become the Lobster Capital of Europe
Moves are underway to officially promote Bridlington as the Lobster Capital of Europe. Academics believe the resort could attract thousands of new visitors by making the most of its unique lobster fishery. They say adopting marketing techniques used by similar American and Canadian fishing ports could put Bridlington on the global tourism map with more festivals and merchandising. And they want cafes and restaurants in the town to start putting lobster landed in Bridlington Harbour on the menu. For none of the 300 tonnes of shellfish currently landed there every year is actually available to eat locally. >click to read< 14:48
Lobstermen and boat builders catch break on diesel engine standards until cleaner-running engines are available
Lobster fishermen are getting a temporary reprieve from federal diesel engine emissions standards because the cleaner running engines have yet to hit the commercial market. “This relief gives boat builders and operators flexibility to meet EPA standards during the next several years,” Wheeler said in a prepared statement. “The larger market for diesel engines can’t build new models quickly enough for marine users – putting these operators in potential violation of pollution rules through no fault of their own.” The diesel engine standards controversy, and the possibility of a reprieve from Wheeler, has been building slowly for years, overshadowed by lobster bait shortages, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S.-China trade war on lobster exports, and the possibility that saving the North Atlantic right whale from extinction could mean an end to lobster fishing as it currently exists. >click to read< 08:42
Consultation lacking on decision to reactivate licenses for Indigenous communities
The reactivation of dormant lobster fishing licences by the federal government has prompted a terse statement from the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) and the Maritime Fishermen’s Union (MFU). The two organizations say they were left out of consultation over the reactivation of 10 lobster licences by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in the Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 25, located on the western end of the Northumberland Strait between P.E.I. and New Brunswick.,,, The statement said fishermen were “frustrated” by the lack of consultation prior to the decision and called for the federal government to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen’s organizations. >click to read< 09:54
Prince Edward Island Lobster fishermen prepare for fall season after challenging spring
“I’m feeling good about the season,” said Peter Hustler, who has been fishing since he was 15. “Everybody has to make an income.” Demand for lobster plummeted as the pandemic forced restaurants to close earlier this year. The price dropped as low as $3.50 per pound. “It hurts, it hurts, and it hurt this spring, too, but I think everything is going to work out,” he said. “I’d like to see the price at $4.50 or $5 … and I believe it might happen.” >click to read< 19:09
Atlantic Canada Fish harvesters still waiting for federal Coronavirus aid to flow
As the policy analyst for CFIB in P.E.I., in early May I worked with my colleagues to write a letter to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Member of Parliament for Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Bernadette Jordan. This letter pleaded for help for fish harvesters, the folks who risk their lives on the water harvesting one of Atlantic Canada’s most important resources and exports, lobster. Lobster harvesters were deeply concerned about a quickly evaporating market and a glut of product driving down the price of their livelihood.,, While this was going on, the federal government was rolling out its array of programs to subsidize business: the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) , the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Agreement (CECRA). by Marley Kingston >click to read< 07:43
Lower prices, reduced markets ‘doesn’t make for good math’ – P.E.I. fishermen ask for four day season extension
The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) has asked for a four-day extension to the spring lobster season. The PEIFA made the request to the federal fisheries minister and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) on June 16 to help offset the delayed start to the season. The season started two weeks late because of coronavirus and concerns over the safety of crews on boats, and questions over the demand and markets for lobster. According to the P.E.I. Lobster Marketing Board, about 200 fishermen have been dealing with quotas for most of the season, and prices are down substantially this year — most fishermen have been getting between $3.50 and $4.50 a pound for their catch. >click to read< 21:57
“We were pumped”! Lobster fishermen find and retrieve big anchor outside of Malpeque Harbour
Matt Wall was out fishing last week, hauling lobster traps, when he noticed something unusual. “It just seemed like the traps were stuck on the bottom,” he said. Wall and the crew quickly realized they had snagged an anchor. “I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time, there’s all [kinds of] anchors out there, net anchors, small stuff,” Wall said. It was bigger than they first thought and when they pulled it up it slipped out of their grasp. But Wall marked the spot. He had a diver scheduled to come out and look for the anchor on Tuesday, but after fishing on Saturday, Wall decided to head back out and look for it again. Photo’s, >click to read< 18:30
Body found on Placentia Bay beach – RCMP in communication with family of missing fisherman
In a release, police said they were notified that lobster fishermen had found a body in the area of Doughboy Cove, east across the water from Arnold’s Cove. Clarenville RCMP and Forensic Identification Services travelled to the beach and secured the body and had it sent to St. John’s for examination after consulting with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Police said they have been in communication with the family of Isaac Kettle, the lone crew member of the Sarah Anne who has not been found, but there has been no positive identification of the body. >click to read< 20:26
Cape Breton lobster fishermen struggle – ‘This is the first year I had to tell my fishermen I couldn’t move their product,’
There is a lack of demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the price for lobster has dropped to $4.25 a pound. In some areas, buyers are restricting the amount they purchase from fishermen. Marlene Brogan, the manager of Ballast Grounds Fisheries, a lobster buyer in North Sydney, said they’ve had to tell fishermen they can’t buy their catch some days. “We’ve been in business 21 years and this is the first year I had to tell my fishermen I couldn’t move their product,” said Brogan. She said there have been many days the fishermen at their wharf haven’t gone out to fish. >click to read< 14:19
‘You’re not making a whole lot of money but you’re making a little bit’ – Cheap lobster on P.E.I. is bittersweet
A P.E.I. lobster fisherman who couldn’t sell part of his catch on Saturday decided to pack his blue half-ton truck with lobster and head to the city to sell the once-lucrative crustaceans at a bargain price. At $3 for canners and $4 for markets, Tyler MacDonald had no trouble offloading the lobsters. He asked for 50 cents less than he was getting at the wharf for canners. Wayne and Janet Foy, a couple from Inkerman, drove nearly 40 kilometres to get a deal. The Foys said they’ve seen other people selling lobster out of their trucks for as much as $6.50 a pound. “I’m here to get some live lobster, the price is really good,” said Janet. Wayne said it is sad to see fishermen being paid so little for their catch. >click to read< 13:26
Process local lobster first, say Val Comeau fishermen after devastating processing plant fire
Steve Ferguson said he wonders what will happen next as they wait to see if the buyer they deal with at Les Pêcheries de Chez-Nous factory will be able to help them out. While a large part of the plant was destroyed in a fire, a portion of the processing plant not damaged is set to resume processing lobster this week with about a third of the staff. The company said 331 people were working at the plant at the time of the fire, and 100 lobster fishermen sold their catch to the plant. Local fishermen want to make sure their catch will take priority over lobster being brought in from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. “At the end of the day, if they can’t produce our lobster from here, why are they bringing so much from other provinces. >click to read< 15:15
Cape Breton: Lobster fishermen protest delay to the season
About 75 lobster fishermen took to the Canso Causeway Monday, protesting the delay of the lobster season. The fishermen – who motorists going by said weren’t interfering with traffic — held signs on the Cape Breton side, while a few were beyond the bridge behind the guardrail. “The season hasn’t opened, that’s the main reason they are upset,” said Jordan MacDougall, president Inverness South Fisherman’s Association, adding May 1 is their usual season opening. “The Gulf area and P.E.I. have been delayed until May 15. Everyone’s upset about that.” >click to read< 20:12
Coronavirus: Most P.E.I. lobster fishermen want spring season to go ahead
The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association conducted the survey starting last week, and got responses from 775 of 954 members who fish the spring lobster fishery — a more than 80 per cent response rate. When asked whether the spring season should proceed “considering what you know today on the current spread of COVID-19,” 57 per cent said yes. Then, in a separate question, members were asked whether the PEIFA should request DFO delay the opening of the 2020 season, and 70 per cent said yes. Ian MacPherson, executive director of the PEIFA, said the survey was an effort to gather feedback from fishermen, rather than a binding vote on whether to ask DFO to delay or cancel the season. “It’s a complicated issue,, >click to read< 17:56
Northern N.S. lobster fishermen fear impact of Coronavirus on communities
Leonard LeBlanc says his phone has been ringing off the hook. The retired fisherman now the president of the Gulf Nova Scotia Fishermen’s Coalition, “Last night I had a call from a fisherman’s wife who was crying on the phone,” LeBlanc said. “She said ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do this spring. My husband is going to have to be separated from me for the entire fishing season. We have two young kids and he doesn’t want to take the chance to infect the kids with the virus.’” Fish harvesters and processors have been deemed an essential service by the federal government, but some are concerned going ahead with the season would be a recipe for disaster for their families and communities. >click to read< 11:43
