Tag Archives: B.C.
Lack of fish forces Bella Coola Valley Seafoods to close its door
“There’s no fish,” says Ed. “How are you going to run a business with only four or five openings a year?” The Central Coast commercial gill net fishery opened in June for Spring salmon. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans was anticipating a very poor Chum season again this year, for the third year in a row, and no commercial gillnet fishing openings were made available for Chum. “On July 5 we had our last opening for Spring salmon. After that it was completely shut down for us to gillnet,” says Ed. “The gillnet fishers were really shocked because the decision to close the fishery came from Ottawa and not from local DFO officials.” 4 photos, >click to read< 15:03
Could this, like spot prawns, be our next local seafood success? The hake catch is six times the size for wild salmon.
B.C.’s hake, also known as Pacific whiting or Merluccius productus, is a transboundary species that crosses Canadian and American waters. Both countries share management of the short-lived, bountiful species under a joint fishery treaty. “Their stock is healthy,” said Bruce Turris, executive manager of the Canadian Groundfish Research and Conservation Society. Turris, who represents the hake fishery on the joint management treaty and has worked with hake for more than 35 years, notes that Canada only harvested around 60 per cent of its total allowable catch in 2019. “We’re still not fully utilizing the resource,” he says. But “it’s not a resource that’s easily accessible,” said Turris, citing a steep investment requirement into the fishery. >click to read< 08:43
Weekend read: Fishing fleet set to reap bumper sockeye harvest – Industry vows to be better prepared for huge Fraser run than it was for 2010’s record returns
In 2009, B.C. sockeye salmon sales generated just $39.2 million, thanks to the near collapse of that year’s Fraser River sockeye run, A year later, sales hit $174.4 million, which doesn’t include all the frozen and canned sockeye that would have been sold in 2011, according to B.C.’s 2011 Seafood Industry Year in Review. The catch – and the resulting sales – could have been much higher than that, say fisheries experts, but the 2010 returns were so unexpectedly high that it caught fisheries managers, commercial fishermen and processing plants unprepared, and a lot of fish that might have been caught and sold went up the river to spawn – about 13 million, according to one estimate. Read more here 19:38
Asian demand pushes up B.C. Dungeness crab prices
Dungeness crab is selling for more than the price of lobster at Granville Island, where the cost of the West Coast delicacy has been driven up to record highs by a tight supply and insatiable demand from Asia. “This is the first time I have ever seen anything like these prices,” said Ray Ogura, of Seafood City at Granville Island, where live crab is selling for $20.90 a pound – a dollar per pound higher than Atlantic Lobster. Read more here 12:33
RCMP to square off against aboriginals in a fight over an imminent commercial roe-herring fishery.
The federal government has chosen a remote stretch of B.C. coastline to square off against aboriginals in a fight over an imminent commercial roe-herring fishery. The Heiltsuk have issued a statement saying, “We will exercise our authority to stop any commercial herring activity in our territories. We will protect our aboriginal rights to the fullest extent possible should commercial fishers not abide by the ban.” It’s real,” he said of the prospect for confrontation. Read more here vancouversun 06:59
