Tag Archives: Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Nova Scotia Lobster Season Faces Wind Delays Again
Weather conditions push back the much-anticipated opening day for the region’s commercial lobster fishery Strong winds have once again delayed the opening of the commercial lobster season along the south shore of Nova Scotia. Scheduled to commence on Monday, November 25, the season’s launch has been postponed due to weather conditions not cooperating with the fishermen’s plans. The forecast continues to show gale force winds, prompting industry officials to eye Tuesday, November 26, as the likely new opening day. This pattern of weather-related delays is nothing new for lobster fishers who have seen the impact of harsh conditions on their opening days for years. The season is set by regulation to start on the last Monday of November, but as was the case this year, it frequently doesn’t go according to plan. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:56
Dumping Day won’t be Monday in LFA 33/34
Dumping Day is delayed once again. It’s the day that hundreds of lobster fishing vessels head out to set their traps, marking the start of the commercial lobster fishery. Port representatives from Lobster Fishing Area 34, which includes Digby around Yarmouth to Shelburne County, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans held a weather call Saturday morning to look at a potential opening for Monday. Due to high winds, the decision was a ‘no go’. more, >>CLICK TO READ<<08:46
Fishermen greet DFO baby eel licence plan with uncertainty
The department is offering 120 fishermen currently employed by the eight commercial groups their own small licences for next year’s season, in what the letters say is a bid to “broaden the distribution of benefits” of the fishery. It is also offering elver licences to 30 fishermen currently licensed to catch adult eels. Austin Townsend, a 26-year-old elver fisherman from Lockeport, N.S., said while the proposal looks good for him on paper, he’s suspicious of the “Robin Hood” tactic where quota is simply plucked from the commercial groups, and worries he could be worse off financially. He said in a good season, he will make between $40,000 and $90,000 working for Shelburne Elver, which has the equipment to hold elvers and the networks to export them. But Townsend said if he goes it alone, he will still likely have to sell to a middleman who will take a cut. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:23
$100K worth of lobster seized from southwest N.S. facility, 1 Arrested
Federal fisheries officers have seized more than 5,900 kilograms of lobster as well as documents and electronic records during the search of a facility in Shelburne County, N.S. One person has been arrested and is being investigated for potential charges under the Fisheries Act in connection with maintaining a lobster pound without the required licence, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Social media posts from the federal department said officers obtained a search warrant for the operation that happened on Wednesday. DFO said in its posts that “fishery officers have been taking enforcement measures ranging from compliance awareness to making arrests and seizing unauthorized catch, equipment and vessels.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:28
Editorial: Ottawa must answer the bell on lobster poaching
The federal government must do more to address complaints about out-of-season fishing and lobster poaching in the Bay of Fundy – issues that have come to public attention in the last couple of weeks as fishing operators in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia plead for better enforcement. Clearly something is amiss when you have local business owners threatening to take matters into their own hands by pulling up illegal gear – an action that may spark confrontations on the water or at wharves along the Fundy coast. The Nova Scotia fisheries minister has lent further credence by writing to his federal counterpart, warning of an underground fishery and reports of threats and intimidation for speaking out. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:18
25 years after the Marshall Decision, some say more must be done to uphold treaty rights
On the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Decision, a landmark court ruling that affirmed First Nations’ treaty right to fish, hunt and gather in pursuit of a moderate livelihood, some say there’s still a long way to go to properly uphold it. The Supreme Court ruling involved Donald Marshall Jr., a Mi’kmaw man from Membertou, N.S., who was arrested and charged with selling eels without a licence outside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) regulated season in August 1993. On Sept. 17, 1999, the court ruled that Marshall was justified in doing so in pursuit of a moderate livelihood, under the Peace and Friendship Treaties signed in the 1700s. What became known as the Marshall Decision affected about three dozen Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik First Nations in the Maritimes and the Gaspé region of Quebec. But the court did not clearly define “moderate livelihood,” even in a subsequent clarification. In the decades since, this has contributed to tensions between First Nations fishers, the commercial industry and DFO. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:09
Lebouthillier Ignored Scientific Advice on Reopening Cod Fishery
Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier faced criticism for disregarding advice from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) when she reopened the commercial cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador earlier this year, a decision largely influenced by political considerations. Patrick Butler of Radio Canada reports that a DFO briefing note from 09 May 2024 uncovered by reveals that the department recommended maintaining the longstanding moratorium on northern cod, citing scientific evidence of the stock’s vulnerability. However, political advisors within the minister’s office advocated for reopening the fishery and increasing cod quotas, viewing it as a “political victory.” Senior policy advisor Paul Carrigan expressed concerns from DFO staff about the risk of stock decline due to higher quotas and the return of offshore vessels. The department had recommended keeping the total allowable catch at 13,000 tonnes, the same level as in 2022 and 2023, while maintaining a limited stewardship fishery solely for inshore harvesters. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:05
N.S. swordfish harpoon fleet urged to bring tourists aboard to boost troubled sector
An environmental group says Nova Scotia’s commercial swordfish fleet could generate millions in added revenue by bringing tourists along for fishing trips and using different gear. The Ecology Action Centre says swordfish harpooning — lunging a long spear into the water to catch a fish — has become increasingly difficult and less economically viable because swordfish are appearing less often at the surface due to changing water conditions. In a report released Wednesday, the centre says changing ocean conditions are preventing fishers who use the traditional fishing method from fulfilling their already small swordfish quotas. The group’s solution is for the harpoon fleet to start using a single deepwater hook and line — called rod and reel gear — and to charge tourists to come aboard for a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:49
Mi’kmaw fishermen say they’re being threatened, prevented from selling catch in Cape Breton
Some Mi’kmaw lobster fishermen say they’re still being prevented from earning a moderate livelihood, more than two weeks after the Department of Fisheries and Oceans began investigating allegations of trap tampering near Louisbourg, N.S. Last month, Eskasoni First Nation fisherman Charles Francis said 70 of his 178 traps were damaged. Since then, some Mi’kmaw fishermen say they have been threatened, denied fuel sales and mechanical work on their boats, and are being prevented from selling their catch by some people in or associated with the commercial fishery. “It’s pure racism,” said Michael Basque, the moderate livelihood fishery co-ordinator for Unama’ki, which is the Mi’kmaw name for Cape Breton. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:50
DFO investigates after dozens of lobster traps belonging to Mi’kmaw fisherman damaged
Charles Francis fishes under a moderate livelihood authorization between DFO and Mi’kmaw harvesters, which allows designated First Nations community members to catch and sell lobster during the commercial season without increasing the number of traps licensed in lobster fishing areas (LFAs). “We couldn’t believe it. At first, we thought everything was all right in this area because nobody said anything to us and nobody paid attention to us,” Francis said in an interview after landing his catch at the Louisbourg wharf last week. “All of a sudden, we come fishing Saturday and everything just turned upside down for us.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:17
Nova Scotia’s Billion-Dollar Lobster Wars
At the River Café, the Michelin-recommended restaurant on the Brooklyn waterfront where the term “free-range chicken” was coined, the lobster is served butter-poached next to a pool of lemon-grape sauce, to brighten its tender brininess. The chef, Brad Steelman, insists on lobster from the cold waters of Nova Scotia, because this insures a hard shell and robust meat. Not so long ago, good lobster could be found closer to the city. Historically, there were strong harvests as far south as New Jersey. Private-equity firms and seafood conglomerates have swallowed many of North America’s fisheries. But, in Nova Scotia, most lobstermen are independent. But many inshore fishermen have also resisted a recent entrant to the power struggle: the Mi’kmaq, the most populous group of Indigenous people in Atlantic Canada. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:58
Season’s 1st North Atlantic right whale sighting is bracing P.E.I. fishers for the next one
The 2023 lobster fishing season was just three weeks old when two endangered right whales were spotted to the east of Western P.E.I. For the first time ever, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans shut that section of Lobster Fishing Area 24, meaning lobster crews had to move their traps to shallower waters until the whales left, rather than risk them becoming entangled in fishing gear. Nearly one year later, a marine biologist says P.E.I. fishers are reflecting on the lessons they learned, after an entangled right whale was spotted on Friday northeast of New Brunswick, prompting fishing closures in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:35
Lennox Island First Nation hoping for more access to lobster fishery
The Lennox Island First Nation wharf is busy these days, in the band’s third year of treaty fishing for lobster, but Chief Darlene Bernard would like to see it busier. Though there has been a commercial fishery based in the community off P.E.I’s North Shore for decades, Bernard said the newly exercised right to harvest lobster under treaties signed long ago means about 10 young families are better able to pay their bills. With a waiting list of about the same number of people who would like to take part in the fishery, Bernard wants to see more commercial licences made available for Lennox Island through a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) purchase program. “We need to have an equitable share of the bounty of the resources in this province moving forward,” she said. Video, photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:20
Cod stock reassessment prompts calls from producers to end moratorium
A recent reassessment of Newfoundland and Labrador’s northern cod stock has some in the industry calling an end to the commercial moratorium implemented in 1992. Alberto Wareham, president and CEO of Icewater Seafoods in Arnold’s Cove, says last year’s reassessment — the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in reviewing historical data, moved cod from the “critical” zone to the “cautious” zone — could signal the potential for a limited commercial harvest. “We’re hoping now with more confidence in the stock we would see a reopening of a commercial cod fishery,” he said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:48
Canada opens personal-use mackerel bait fishery, extends commercial moratorium
Canada is opening a personal-use bait fishery for mackerel this spring while extending the moratorium on commercial mackerel fishing in Atlantic Canada and Quebec in 2024. Fish caught under a bait licence are intended for personal-use and cannot be sold, traded or bartered. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a news release Thursday the bait fishery will help licence holders supply their other fisheries, such lobster, with bait without jeopardizing the ongoing rebuilding of the stock. The 470-tonne bait quota will be released in two parts to allow fishermen in different parts of the region equitable access. Mackerel arrive in different parts of the region at different times — first off southern Nova Scotia and later in Newfoundland and Labrador. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:42
P.E.I. harbours face challenges with approach of lobster season
The spring lobster season on Prince Edward Island is just a few weeks away, but some harbours are facing challenges as Island fishermen prepare to head out and set their traps. At Malpeque Harbour, windy weather has slowed down efforts to clear the winding channel that they will take on setting day. “They’ve had a real hard time this year due to weather,” said fisherman Timothy Wall, who has been fishing for 30 years, following the occupation of his father and grandfather. “They’ve been on the site for two weeks already, and they can’t even get to the outside of the harbour, just the weather hasn’t been fit. Moving the harbour deeper into Malpeque Bay, where there is less moving sand, could be an option, said Wall, but there are no certain answers. Video, photos, more, >>click to read<< 11:12
Mi’kmaw fishers say DFO officers left them to walk for hours at night after seizing boots, phones
Two Mi’kmaw elver fishermen say they were forced to walk in sock feet for hours along a rural Nova Scotia highway in the middle of the night last week after they were detained by federal fisheries officers who took their boots and phones before releasing them. Blaise Sylliboy and Kevin Hartling, who assert they have a treaty right to fish for the lucrative baby eels despite this year’s season being cancelled, were joined Tuesday morning by dozens of protesters outside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans building in Dartmouth, N.S. “When we were walking, there’s times I’m like, ‘Man, if we stop, we’re going to die,’ because our feet were just soaked,” said Hartling. more, >>click to read<< 06:22
DFO delays opening of crab season by a week, staving off more fish harvester protests
The federal government has agreed to push back the opening of the snow crab season, following a request from the fisheries union and a threat of more protests. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans made the announcement Monday evening, a day after the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union wrote to the department and asked for a one-week delay. Fish harvesters wanted time to iron out the details of an agreement last week with the provincial government to implement sweeping changes to the industry that would affect the upcoming season. DFO initially denied that request, releasing its management plan Monday morning with an expected start date of April 1, prompting influential fisherman John Efford to threaten to rally protesters outside the DFO office in St. John’s. more, >>click to read<< 17:31
Cancelling legal elver fishery has not stopped poaching in N.S.
Nova Scotia RCMP have charged a Parrsboro man with multiple criminal counts after a night time altercation with fishery officers attempting to stop illegal elver fishing in Hubbards this weekend. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says its officers tried to inspect a vehicle on Saturday “as part of their normal activities to deter and disrupt unauthorized elver harvest.” “An individual obstructed fishery officers from conducting the inspection and struck the officers with their vehicle while fleeing to attempt to avoid arrest. “The fishery officers involved were not injured and alerted local RCMP to the incident,” more, >>click to read<< 19:03
Put rules in writing to fix Maritime elver fishery’s enforcement problem, say businesses
Representatives of the $45-million Maritime elver fishery are calling on the federal government to implement enforceable regulations for moderate livelihood fishing by Indigenous people. They told a Senate committee in Ottawa Thursday the failure to define or regulate moderate livelihood rights by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is one reason for the uncontrolled harvest of baby eels on dozens of rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. “Among these poachers are First Nations unwilling to work with DFO to access the fishery under a banner of moderate livelihood rights, backed by organized crime, specifically biker gangs and foreign smuggling networks. Our once peaceful industry has recently faced violent disruption,” said Genna Carey, a commercial licence holder speaking on behalf of the Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery, an industry group. more, >>click to read<< 09:29
Canada proposes shutdown of troubled Maritime elver fishery in 2024
The federal government has served notice it intends to close the commercial fishery for baby eels, or elvers, in the Maritimes this year — six weeks before the season is set to open. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Diane Lebouthillier informed licence holders Tuesday and gave them until Feb. 23 to respond. Lebouthillier said there was not enough time for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to implement enhanced “access for Indigenous communities, a new regulatory framework to regulate and licence the possession and export of elvers, and a suite of operational changes to the management of the elver fishery.” “Based on all the above, it is my view that it is not possible to have a safe and sustainable elver fishery in 2024, and therefore the fishery should not be opened,” Lebouthillier wrote. more, >>click to read<< 16:46
DFO ‘intellectually and morally bankrupt’ in provincial redfish allocations, N.L. minister says
Corner Brook MHA and former provincial fisheries minister Gerry Byrne says Newfoundland and Labrador deserves a higher allocation of redfish this season and is calling the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans “intellectually and morally bankrupt” in its decision-making. Nova Scotia received 33 per cent of the quota, Québec 32 per cent, New Brunswick 11 per cent and P.E.I. five per cent. Indigenous fishers and shrimp harvesters will also get an allocation of redfish following a reduction in shrimp quotas. more, >>click to read<< 08:59
Hundreds of jobs, industry stability at stake in pending Atlantic Canada fishery decision
The Trudeau government is poised to allocate fishing access to the massive redfish population in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the end of the month, a highly anticipated decision generating both dread and hope throughout the industry in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Nova Scotia, which has the most to lose, is warning Ottawa that “hundreds of jobs” are at stake if it loses its long-standing share of the fishery. Now that the redfish population is estimated to weigh in at a whopping four million metric tonnes, Scotia Harvest and the other Nova Scotia operators are looking nervously at other provinces lobbying for access. Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador interests, to take one example, are lobbying for a piece of the action to compensate for a drastic reduction in shrimp quota for fleets in their province. more, >>click to read<< 09:06
Seal overpopulation having ‘significant and damaging impact’ on Canadian fish stocks: report
Canadian parliamentarians are warning that seal populations pose a danger to fish stocks and are upsetting marine ecosystems in the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans. A bipartisan report from the House of Commons standing committee on fisheries and oceans says urgent measures are needed from the federal government and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, including an increase in the humane seal harvest. “This report’s objective is to draw the attention of DFO, relevant departments and the Canadian government to important observational and empirical evidence that the overpopulation of pinnipeds on Canada’s three coasts is having a significant and damaging impact on the health and conservation of fish stocks and is creating an imbalance in our marine ecosystems,” the study concludes. more, >>click to read<< 18:00
“A bucket and a net, and you’re in business.” Looming tensions in Maritime eel fishery
Commercial harvesters of baby eels in the Maritimes say there’s little hope the poaching and violence that forced the closure of the lucrative fishery last season will subside in 2024. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans closed the fishery for the tiny, translucent fish known as elvers on April 15 after reports of violence related to unauthorized fishing. There were accusations of assault and even shots fired along coastal rivers in parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The increased illegal activity comes as demand grows for the young eels, which are sold live to aquaculture operations in Asian markets such as China and Japan, where they are grown for food. Prices had reached as high as $5,000 per kilogram in 2022, partly because sources for the fish species in Europe and Asia had begun to dry up. more, >>click to read<< 06:02
Nova Scotia MP says he faced death threats as Maritime elver fishery descended into lawlessness
MPs in Ottawa heard “alarming” accounts Thursday of failed Canadian government efforts to thwart the black-market fishery for baby eels, or elvers, earlier this year. It included a claim that 25-tonnes of the tiny, translucent eels were flown out of Canada in illicit shipments, part of an organized crime to meet an “insatiable appetite” in China where they are grown for food. “I had many constituents whose properties were being defiled, destroyed as poachers, parked and utilized their things. I had single mothers threatened by people. I had death threats, as did my wife during this time,” said South Shore-St. Margarets Conservative MP Rick Perkins. more, >>click to read<< 06:50
Canada’s biggest lobster fishery on notice after Right Whale entanglement in Nova Scotia gear
The entanglement of a North Atlantic right whale in Canadian lobster gear earlier this year will increase scrutiny this season on the lucrative southwestern Nova Scotia lobster fishery. In order to be certified as sustainable, the fishery must now prove its actions will not hinder the recovery of the critically endangered species. “This means the fishery has to demonstrate in collaboration with [the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that it’s going to strengthen its strategy to mitigate impacts on right whales,” says Kurtis Hayne, program director for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in Canada. To satisfy the conditions, the Lobster Council of Canada, on behalf of industry and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), have developed an action plan to increase overflights in lobster fishing area 33 and increase data collection, says Lobster Council executive director Geoff Irvine. more, >>click to read<< 06:39
Authorities crack down on commercial lobster fishery inside Halifax harbour
Lobster fishing inside Halifax harbour will be sharply restricted when the season opens next week as federal authorities move to enforce existing prohibitions. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will not allow traps to be set within 300 metres of any wharf, pier or boat structure inside the harbour. The restriction was included in DFO lobster fishing licence conditions for the first time this year at the request of the Halifax Port Authority, which has the same rule on the books. That’s bad news for Craig Hartlen, a lobster fisherman based in Eastern Passage, a small port on the outer edge of the harbour. >>click to read<< 08:11
The NLGIDC are pleased with DFO’s revised assessment Model for Northern Cod
The Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council (NLGIDC) are pleased that The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has implemented a revised model for assessing the 2J3KL cod stock. This model now utilizes data back to 1954 and shows that the 2J3KL cod stock is out of the critical zone and into the cautious zone of the Precautionary Approach (PA) Framework. In fact, the new model indicates the stock has been in the cautious zone since 2016. Previously the model only used data back to 1983. “The NLGIDC and other groups have been seeking changes to the stock assessment model for a number of years,” says Jim Baird, the Chair of the NLGIDC. >>click to read the Press Release<< 14:51
Cost of Canada’s new flagship ocean science vessel jumps a further $300M
The budget for Canada’s new flagship ocean research ship increased 28 per cent this year jumping from $995 million to $1.28 billion. Construction of the offshore oceanographic science vessel is underway at the Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, B.C., as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.It will replace the decommissioned Canadian Coast Guard Ship Hudson — now at a wreckers yard — to provide scientific and ocean mapping missions in Atlantic Canada. The offshore oceanographic science vessel is the key platform to track climate change in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of St Lawrence. Delivery is expected in 2025 and the ship will be based in Dartmouth, N.S.>>click to read<< 11:53
