Tag Archives: Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Three Liberal fisheries ministers, senior DFO staff sued by elver licence holder
The company that bought Donald Marshall Jr.’s eels is suing three Liberal fisheries ministers, along with a host of the federal fisheries department’s top brass. South Shore Trading Company, a commercial elver licence holder based in Wentworth and led by President Mitchell Feigenbaum, filed the suit in the Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick on Monday. The suit’s statement of claim accuses Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) staff and political leaders of fraudulent misrepresentation and making false and misleading statements to commercial elver licence holders, along with the intentional neglect of duties in their management of the lucrative fishery for juvenile American eels. It comes after a March 28 Federal Court decision found DFO’s taking quota from commercial licence holders and transferring it to First Nations without consultation of the former was “procedurally unfair.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:24
Maritime seafood industry officials looking for new buyers at Boston expo
The Seafood Expo North America is the largest event of its kind on the continent. With importers, exporters, wholesalers and hotel operators from 50 countries in attendance, it’s the perfect place to pitch Nova Scotia seafood to the world. “I was expecting doom and gloom when I came down here and it is not that. There’s a lot more optimism for the demand for our product and will be able to get through this storm,” says Fisheries Minister Kent Smith. Smith says Nova Scotia companies have a deal with a new contact in the Philippines and one is in the works with an existing importer in Spain to expand that market. Lobster seller Shawn Landry has been busy, too. “Singapore was one of the ones that we talked with. Southeast Asia, Italy, and Europe,” he says. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:47
N.L. snow crab stocks remain healthy, but there is a threat to growth: DFO
Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab stocks appear to remain healthy, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said Tuesday during its annual stock assessment report. The latest assessment suggests the 2024 biomass of commercial-sized snow crab, which measure at a 95-millimeter shell width, remains near the same level as the year prior. Snow crab landings were recorded at over 56,000 tonnes in 2024. However, the assessment indicates poor stock growth over the next two to four years because of environmental conditions like warming oceans. Snow crab thrive in cold water with a narrow range of temperatures, and a warming climate can stunt production, growth and survival. It typically takes a male snow crab nine to 13 years to reach the legal commercial size. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:56
Fisheries and Oceans Canada expects to flounder under mounting climate costs
Hurricane Fiona left a trail of destruction across the Atlantic Coast in September 2022 wreaking havoc on wharves, fisheries, vessels, and gear and the federal government’s pocketbook. In response to the climate disaster, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has had to earmark more than $563 million to deal with Fiona’s aftermath, including damage to 142 out of 184 small craft harbours on the Atlantic coast. With a shrinking budget, the department is bracing for more severe financial and logistical challenges as the climate crisis intensifies. Yet the federal agency is already facing a yearly budget deficit of more than $100 million that hamstrings its ability to maintain its critical buildings, equipment, and other assets. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:47
N.B.’s favourite seafood threatened by Trump: lobster industry
Fishermen would be forced to swallow a depressed price for their catch and processors would have a lot less work, shaking up a commercial enterprise that employs about 5,000 New Brunswickers on boats and another 5,000 in seafood plants. Behind the scenes, the lobster lobby is working feverishly to convince officials in the White House administration and other top Republican officials that imposing a 25 per cent tariff on seafood would be a big mistake for American consumers already reeling from the higher cost of living. The lobster market has long been deeply integrated between Canada and the United States and would be badly wounded by a trade war between the two nations. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 19:53
N.B. lobster processors living with uncertainty as clock ticks on U.S. tariffs reprieve
Lobster processors in New Brunswick are relieved that U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports have been postponed, but there is still a possibility they will be implemented in March, creating anxiety in the industry. “That’s the frustrating bit,” Nat Richard, executive director of the Lobster Processors Association in the region, said. “It just extends the uncertainty, which is not great for business for sure.” The United States is by far the largest consumer of Canadian lobster. The concern for the lobster industry extends into the United States, as well. Chellie Pingree, the Democratic congresswoman for Maine’s 1st district, said lobster often goes back and forth between the two countries for processing. While diversification of markets is something Richard supports, he said it won’t be simple.”We’re not going to walk away from the U.S. market, whether this is a tariff or not,” said Richard. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:21
Opinion: We need science-advice reform at Fisheries and Oceans Canada
It took months of meetings, written requests and public pressure to receive an official response from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to a 1.5-year-long wait for a request related to a widely condemned DFO report. This report found, contrary to mountains of peer-reviewed evidence, that infestations of sea lice on open-net salmon farms do not influence numbers of lice on wild salmon. Our appeal was simple: For the report’s authors to share the data used to reach their conclusion, to enable us to reproduce the analysis—a fundamental principle of modern science. The eventual response? A data sheet with much of the key data removed. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 15:30
Mi’kmaw chiefs reject DFO’s $260M funding offer for fisheries access
In a news release Friday, the assembly’s 13 chiefs said they were concerned the proposal was “a rebranding of previously rejected proposals” and a threat to treaty rights. “This proposal raises serious alarms,” Chief Wilbert Marshall said in the release. “DFO’s approach reminded us of earlier initiatives from the 2000s, which failed to respect and uphold our inherent rights. Our treaty right to fish is not a commercial fishery.”Chief Gerald Toney, Marshall’s co-lead of the assembly’s fisheries portfolio, said the offer from the federal government could impose constraints on treaty rights. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:35
Federal government pitches $260M plan to increase First Nation fishing access
A nearly $260-million initiative by the federal government aimed at expanding fisheries access to First Nation communities is being met with questions from Mi’kmaw and non-Indigenous representatives alike. The three-year project by Fisheries and Oceans Canada was included in last month’s fall economic statement under the heading of Indigenous reconciliation. The aim is to “further implement the right of 34 [Mi’kmaw] and Wolastoqey Nations and the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood under the 1760-61 Peace and Friendship Treaties, as upheld in the Marshall decisions,” according to a statement from DFO spokesperson Axel Rioux. “Funding can be used towards the purchase of access, vessels and gear, and to support development and testing of governance and management structures, as well as participation in discussions with DFO at fisheries negotiation tables, with the aim of reaching long-term collaborative management agreements.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:32
Continuation of lobster quality and moult survey very important to southwestern NS industry
Every fall since 2005, in advance of the commercial lobster fishery opening in Lobster Fishing Areas (LFA) 33 and 34, a scientific survey has been conducted in the waters around southwestern Nova Scotia. “The overall objective of the Atlantic Lobster Moult and Quality (ALMQ) Survey is to develop an ongoing monitoring program, based on biological indicators of moult-timing, quality and environmental conditions, to predict the quality of lobsters at the start of the lobster seasons in LFAs 33 and 34,” says Heather Mulock, executive director of the Coldwater Lobster Association. “The data collected is used to establish a framework for adaptation decision-making for the lobster sector, including ensuring better product marketability, live storage, and international shipping valuation.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:10
DFO Standing Committee Tables Report on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing
The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has made 32 recommendations to the federal government in its report, Reducing the Harms Caused to Canadian Fish Stocks by Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, tabled in the House of Commons on Oct. 3. “During its study, the Committee identified gaps that need to be addressed by DFO in order for DFO to have a fully informed response to IUU fishing. For example, more needs to be done to determine how much IUU fishing is taking place, intelligence-gathering and sharing needs to be improved and enforcement actions in relation to IUU fishing need to be strengthened, including in relation to the role of organized crime,” concluded the report. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:12
N.S. fisheries minister renews call to his federal counterpart for help on illegal fishing
Nova Scotia’s fisheries and aquaculture minister says his federal counterpart’s silence in response to calls for action against illegal fishing in the province’s southwestern region sends a message to the industry and communities affected that she does not care. Kent Smith wrote to federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier on Wednesday after receiving no response to a previous letter last month that raised concerns about illegal lobster fishing in the Clare region and public safety concerns tied to that activity. I’m feeling as though there’s not enough priority put on this file from her and her senior leadership,” Smith said in an interview at Province House. Although some First Nations fishers are practising a legal and treaty-recognized food, social and ceremonial fishery in the region, commercial fishing organizations, Smith and other politicians have expressed concern that some people are illegally fishing outside the FSC fishery and that those catches are entering the commercial market. more, >>>CLICK TO READ<< 10:37
Fishing group expresses concern about oil spill in Saulnierville Harbour
A fishing organization is concerned that a recent oil spill near the government wharf in Saulnierville, N.S., could make people sick and have disastrous implications for the province’s seafood industry if it’s not addressed as soon as possible. The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance released video on Thursday of fishing vessels along the wharf surrounded by oil. Tied to some of those boats are crates of lobster floating in the water. “When we saw it we were pretty shocked,” Colin Sproul, the alliance president said in an interview. “We’re really concerned that oil-soaked lobster is going to make it into the marketplace and make people sick.” Officials with the federal government have not yet responded to requests for comment. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:44
Federal Fisheries minister ignored DFO advice by reopening commercial cod fishery
Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier ignored the advice of staff within her department when she reopened the commercial cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador last June. A briefing note dated May 9 reveals that Fisheries and Oceans Canada recommended maintaining the long-time moratorium on northern cod based on scientific evidence, but that political advisors within the minister’s office argued reopening the commercial fishery and hiking quotas would be “politically a victory.” Senior policy advisor Paul Carrigan wrote that DFO staff were concerned about an increase to quotas and the return of offshore boats in the fishery, which would “increase the stocks’ risk of decline.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:47
DFO defends cut to herring quota that company claims forced N.B. layoffs
Fisheries and Oceans Canada is defending its July decision to reduce the herring quota in the Bay of Fundy, after a major New Brunswick employer blamed the decision for major layoffs. “We recognize the economic impacts this decision will have on the families and communities that rely on income from fishing and processing herring,” said Lauren Sankey, DFO spokesperson, in an emailed statement late Friday afternoon. Connors Bros., a herring processing company in Blacks Harbour, near St. George, announced this week it’s laying off 20 per cent of its workforce, which is estimated to be about 100 people. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:22
DFO: Some fishery officers refusing work in N.S., citing dangerous conditions
Some fishery officers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada are refusing work in Nova Scotia out of concern for their safety, the federal department said Thursday. While DFO said in a statement it is “making every effort to minimize operational impacts,” a group representing fishermen in southwest Nova Scotia said enforcement officers are nowhere to be seen to prevent illegal fishing during the off-season. “There’s illegal fishing occurring and there is no enforcement staff on the road or on the water or on the wharfs. And it’s out of hand,” Dan Fleck, executive director of the Brazil Rock Lobster Association, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 20:33
As Europe reviews its rules on seal products, Canada calls for easing of restrictions
The Canadian government is calling on the European Union to ease restrictions on seal products as member states review trade regulations. Ottawa said in a letter dated Tuesday to the European Commission’s vice-president that Canada has been given the opportunity to “provide input” on the seal trade while the union fine tunes its rules. The outcome is scheduled to be published on the site in eight weeks. In 2009, the European Union limited imports for Canadian seal products, citing the “pain, distress, fear and other forms of suffering” of seals because of the way in which they are killed and skinned. Canada has many species of seals including bearded, grey, harbour, harp, hooded and ringed. Three of these — grey, harp, and hooded — are killed for commercial uses. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:44
Commercial whelk fishery opens in eastern Cape Breton
On Tuesday, an event at Louisbourg Seafoods processing plant ushered in the first commercial whelk fishery in waters along the island’s eastern coast. The Louisbourg, N.S., company began experimenting with the harvest of whelk more than a decade ago. “We have a science team and they spend all their time looking at this, and basically developed a clear understanding of what the fishery was out there and how best to manage it,” said Allan MacLean, Louisbourg Seafoods’ senior operations manager. The whelk fishery off eastern Cape Breton, in an area known as the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Area 4Vs, was previously licensed only for exploratory harvesting to determine if stocks could sustain a commercially viable operation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said Tuesday in a news release. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 19:46
The Newfoundland cod moratorium is over — but the risk remains
After more than 30 years, the federal government has announced it’s lifting the moratorium that shut down commercial cod fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1990s. The end of the moratorium includes a 46 per cent increase in total allowable catch from 13,000 tonnes in 2023 to 18,000 tonnes. Just before the collapse in the late 1980s, the total allowable catch was about 240,000 tonnes. Additionally, international offshore fisheries were allocated a quota of 1,000 tonnes, accounting for about five per cent of the total allowable catch. Reactions to the announcement have been mixed. Some organizations, like the Association of Seafood Producers, have voiced their support for the moratorium ending. Others are more skeptical. The union representing inshore fish harvesters, for instance, has asked the government to reverse the decision. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:28
A Very Dire Situation: Downward spiral for Atlantic cod continues in Gulf of St. Lawrence
The latest assessment of Atlantic cod fish stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence continues to paint a bleak picture for the future of the species. Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a warning five years ago saying extinction of the species in the gulf was not just possible, but probable. The first assessment since then has been released. “We are not seeing any recovery of the spawning stock biomass of that stock. It is still experiencing really high levels of natural mortality, especially at the adult stage of life,” said federal Fisheries and Oceans biologist Daniel Ricard. Between 60 and 70 per cent of cod in the southern gulf do not survive beyond age five and are likely being eaten by the huge herds of grey seals in the region, Ricard said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:17
A Historic Agreement – Canada and U.S. suspend all fishing for Canadian-origin Yukon River chinook salmon
Canada and the United States are suspending all fishing for Canadian-origin Yukon River chinook salmon for seven years in an attempt to protect the dwindling species. The agreement covers the length of one life cycle of the fish and recognizes that the “persistent decline of chinook salmon” has led to an inability to meet conservation objectives in both countries. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< – Canada and Alaska sign a historic agreement to protect Yukon River Chinook salmon, To ensure the protection and recovery of Yukon River Chinook salmon, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have signed a historic seven-year agreement. more, >>Click to read<< 10:33
Canada, Alaska suspend fishing of Yukon River chinook salmon for 7 years
In a bid to help the recovery of the Yukon River chinook salmon run, the federal government and the State of Alaska have agreed to implement a seven-year moratorium on fishing the species. The suspension, in effect for one full life cycle of a salmon, includes commercial fishing and recreational angling in the Yukon River mainstem and its Canadian tributaries. Representatives from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game signed the agreement on Monday. The number of chinook salmon crossing the international border into Canadian waters has for years plummeted, with the last two years yielding some of the worst tallies recorded on the Yukon River. more, >>click to read<< 09:06
Maritime elver fishery closure penalizes legal fishers, committee hears
The committee heard from the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the RCMP, the Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery, and a legal elver fisherman with Shelburne Elver. “I lost my partner to cancer a few months ago,” Zachary Townsend, the elver fisherman, told the committee. “It’s been hard and unbearable at times. But to now be unemployed and facing an uncertain financial future is simply a challenge I didn’t need. “And I don’t share such sad news to vote your pity, but instead to remind you that each of us 1,100 [Maritime elver fishers] has a story and a unique set of circumstances now made worse by the minister.” The elver fishing season was cancelled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick after Fisheries and Oceans Canada admitted it couldn’t control poaching or the export of baby eels, which sell for thousands of dollars a kilogram. more. >>click to read<< 16:42
Snow crab stock projected to remain healthy, for the most part, in 2024
Fisheries and Oceans Canada released its annual stock assessment on snow crab Tuesday in St. John’s, and the data indicates the stock remains on par with last year with no major changes. That means the stock is projected to remain healthy for the majority of fishing areas around the province, with one exception. The 2HJ zone off the east coast of Labrador remains in the cautious zone, similar to last year’s assessment. But the positive news may be a result of an ocean cooling period that happened between 2012 and 2018. Snow crab flourish in colder water, allowing young crab the ability to grow to exploitable age and size. That’s between nine and 13 years old with a shell size of over 94 mm for males. Female crab cannot be retained by harvesters. more, >>click to read<< 15:06
‘It’s definitely precedent setting:’ commercial prawn operator fined $250K
Prawning in an environmentally sensitive area off the lower Sunshine Coast resulted in a heavy fine and fishing gear seizure against a Delta man. A recent provincial court sentencing hearing in Sechelt followed the conviction of 13 violations under Canada’s Fisheries Act against Dean Keitsch in connection to incidents in July 2020 off the coastal community on board his vessel Dark Star. Fisheries officers retrieved more than 550 prawn traps set at the bottom of the Strait of Georgia Glass Sponge Reef Marine Refuge, which is closed to all forms of bottom fishing. photos, more, >>click to read<< 07:05
Wolastoqey fishers say proposed elver fishery shutdown infringes on treaty rights
Some Wolastoqey fishers say closure of the fishery for baby eels, or elvers, this year will infringe on their treaty rights and impact their right to earn a moderate livelihood from fishing. Last week, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) issued letters to commercial licence holders that it will not renew licences ahead of the elver season that typically starts in late March. DFO shut down the elver fishery in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia last April because of conservation and safety concerns, after reports of violence and overfishing by unauthorized harvesters. Tyler Sabattis, a lobster and scallop fisherman, said he got into elver fishing last year to earn extra income for his family and community in Bilijk (Kingsclear First Nation), near Fredericton. more, >>click to read<< 09:34
Swordfish are moving north in Canadian waters
“It’s still unclear whether this is becoming the new normal due to climate change or if the biomass will eventually shift back again as we think it did historically,” said Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist Kyle Gillespie. Nineteen-hundred tonnes of swordfish were landed in Canada last year. Nearly a third of the swordfish were taken off Newfoundland, where longline fishing boats from Nova Scotia trailed kilometres of baited hooks throughout much of the summer. Gillespie said this is a rapid shift from the previous decade, when the entire Canadian catch was concentrated along the Scotian Shelf and Georges Bank off southern Nova Scotia. more, >>click to read<< 08:46
2023 was another bad year for chinook, fall chum salmon, Yukon River Panel hears
Alaska and Yukon representatives met in Whitehorse last week to discuss the 2023 chinook and fall chum salmon runs on the Yukon River, which once again failed to meet Canadian conservation goals. An estimated 58,529 chinook salmn entered the river last year, according to public presentations by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) during the Yukon River Panel’s post-season meeting. It was the second-smallest run on record — 2022 was the smallest — and not enough to meet spawning escapement goals on either side of the border. The goals set out the minimum range of fish that need to make it to their spawning areas to healthily sustain the population. more, >>click to read<< 13:51
Canada plans crackdown as trade data shows elver exports were 4 times the legal catch in 2022
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) plans to crack down on the illegal fishery for baby eels, also known as elvers, in the Maritimes next year by creating separate possession-and-export licences to track the catch from river to airport. The effort comes as newly reported trade data shows a huge surge in elver exports leaving Canada, reaching an all time high of 43 tonnes in 2022 — four times the authorized Canadian total allowable catch. To avoid a repeat of the chaos and deter the illegal trade, DFO wants new regulations in place by March 2024, ahead of the spring elver migration and fishing season. photos, more, >>click to read<< 14:32
Tonnes of elvers were poached in 2023, but border agents didn’t find any
The disclosure came from Daniel Anson, the agency’s director of general intelligence and investigations, during a recent appearance before the standing Fisheries and Oceans Canada parliamentary committee examining illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. “We have not had any seizures of elver eels this specific year. We have effected a variety of different examinations to ensure compliance and have not found anything that was illicit or destined abroad that had been harvested illegally or the result of unreported fishing,” Anson testified last week. That was greeted with scorn by one Nova Scotia MP. Elvers are Canada’s most valuable seafood species by weight, fetching up to $5,000 per kilogram. more, >>click to read<< 11:53
