Tag Archives: baby eel fishery
What Canada can learn from Maine’s approach to the lucrative baby eel fishery
Authorities in Maine say they have figured out how to regulate a fishery that is so out of control in Canada, the federal government has shut it down this year — the third shutdown in five years — putting 1,100 people out of work. Baby eels, also known as elvers or glass eels, are generally fished in rivers and streams in Maine, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and a handful of Caribbean islands. They’re shipped live to Asia, where they’re grown to maturity and eaten — the dish is so popular it led to overfishing in Japan and Europe, leaving seafood wholesalers looking to Canada. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:07
Striking fishery officers stand aside as poaching continues for lucrative baby eels
“Our net should be here, not some illegal fisherman,” says Brenda Golden, a co-owner of Wine Harbour Fisheries. Golden is looking under the Liscomb River bridge where a fine mesh net supported by floats stretches into the black foamy water. Hoping to have the net removed, Golden’s daughter reported it to the local Department of Fisheries and Oceans on Tuesday. Fisheries officials did not provide a response when asked about this incident. Nor to questions about the impact of the ongoing Public Service Alliance of Canada strike on its ability to rein in widespread illegal harvesting. >click to read< 07:15
Maritime baby eel fishers pan federal decision to close fishery over safety concerns
Ottawa’s decision to shut down the lucrative but contentious baby eel fishery in the Maritimes has effectively ended the 2023 season, says a commercial licence holder in southwestern Nova Scotia. Brian Giroux, of Shelburne Elver, a fishing co-op that employs 39 people, said the mandatory 45-day closure announced by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on Saturday will largely run out a season that normally wraps up in early June. “Illegal activities that (DFO) failed to control have taken away the fishing from the licensed and legal fishing,” Giroux said in an interview Monday. >click to read< 10:32
Quota transfer to Maritime First Nations prompts Federal Court challenge
Commercial licence holders in the lucrative Maritime baby eel fishery have launched a Federal Court challenge over the decision to take 14 per cent of their quota and give it to Indigenous groups in 2022. The quota of baby eels, or elvers, was worth millions of dollars. It was reallocated without compensation to fulfil First Nation treaty rights to fish. The elver redistribution raises broader questions about what licence holders in other commercial fisheries can expect if their allocations are cut in favour of First Nations. >click to read< 09:23
