Tag Archives: herring fishery
N.S., N.B. herring fishery swallows 33 per cent quota cut
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) reduced the 2022 quota, or total allowable catch, from 35,000 tonnes to 23,450 tonnes, but environmentalists say the cut does not go far enough to rebuild the stock. The Bay of Fundy Herring Industry said the TAC for this year “will create challenges for industry but is at a level that will help protect jobs, businesses and communities in the region that rely on the fishery.” DFO echoed industry in its announcement, saying its decision was a balance. This decision reduces pressure on this stock, while recognizing the needs of communities that depend on this fishery for jobs and bait,” >click to read< 13:24
Another big Maritime fishery quota cut looming
Another Maritime fishery is facing a big quota cut this year. The only question is how big. This time it is the large herring fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. The stock is in the critical zone where serious harm is occurring, but the fishery employs hundreds of people in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. What happens next will again test how far Canada’s fisheries minister is willing to go to rebuild a depleted stock. >click to read< 09:35
Island fishermen ‘worried’ as cons call to stop herring fishery set to start in days
Lasqueti Island herring fisherman Billy Forbes worries about the future of his four-generation long fishing family. After 51 years of captaining fishing boats in the Strait of Georgia, Forbes said he’s unsure if handing over the family’s namesake boat would be a gift to his grandson or a curse. “This is all he knows, so if there’s nothing left for him he’s gotta find something else,” said Forbes. Taylor Forbes, 23, said he has started to lose hope there’s a future in fishing. Video, >click to read< 08:21
Sitka herring fishery opens for first time in 2 years
After a week on two-hour notice, the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery opened twice over the weekend. According to a release from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the fishery opened for 8 hours on Saturday. It re-opened on Sunday morning at 10:45 and closed at 6 p.m. Area management biologist Aaron Dupuis said seiners caught around 2,300 tons on Saturday, but he didn’t have data from Sunday’s harvest yet. He said the fleet is smaller this year, with around 20 seiners and four processors are participating. “It’s been pretty relaxed,” he said. “Just the size of the fleet. Everything is really tightly controlled. So it’s not the usual bumper boats, wild, shoot-out fishery a lot of people are accustomed to. It’s pretty relaxed out there.” >click to read< 13:30
Vancouver Island: Controversy grows as herring fishery approaches
Anticipation is growing in French Creek’s harbour as herring boats began to fill it Wednesday ahead of the fishery opening. The opening could be any day. Fisheries and Oceans test boats have already recorded herring returning to spawn. “Could be any minute now, you know Mother Nature is temperamental,” said Captain of the Pender Isle Jason Roberts. Video, >click tp read< 12:32
Salmon harvesting jobs lost in 2018 fisheries
A new report on seafood jobs in Alaska notes that fishery harvest employment declined by 4.9 percent in 2018, erasing most of the gains seen a year earlier. That total decline of about 407 average annual jobs brought the state’s overall employment in harvesting down to 7,924 posts, wrote state labor economist Joshua Warren in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends,,, Salmon fisheries statewide lost 7.2 percent, or 328 jobs, >click to read< 10:47
This year, a welcome switch on bait supply for Maine lobstermen
Bait freezers along the coast are full of herring and pogies, and even alewives, which means that bait is not only available, it is also much less expensive than last year when herring cost as much as 60 cents a pound, said Pat Keliher, commissioner of the state Department of Marine Resources. This year the lobstermen’s go-to bait costs about half as much. That’s still not a great price, Keliher said. Herring fetched about 18 cents a pound at the start of the 2015 lobstering season. “I won’t say we’re in great shape, but we are in a heck of a lot better shape than we were last year,” Keliher said. He attributed the strong start to basic supply-and-demand economics. click here to read the story 08:18
Where are the herring? Unalaska’s seine fishery remains on hold
The commercial herring fishery is on hold in Unalaska — because no one can find the fish. The herring season opened more than a week ago. So far, fishermen haven’t had any luck, even with a spotter pilot searching from above. “There’s been no appreciable harvest at all,” said Frank Kelty on the Unalaska Fisheries Report. “The fish appear to be well offshore and in very deep water where the seiners can’t get to them.” Kelty said three or four seiners are registered to fish this season, while no one has registered to use gillnet gear. If the herring show up, Dutch Harbor fishermen will be able to harvest 2,166 tons. But until then, the seiners are on standby. Read the rest here Listen to the report here 08:01
DFO clings to bad science, refuses to close herring fishery in Area 7 – “we’re prepared to stop them at all costs”
Despite harsh criticism from scientists and First Nations of DFO’s flawed forecasting methods for the health of herring stocks, the department’s Director General, Pacific Region Sue Farlinger acknowledged today that she was unable to commit to the closure of a gillnet fishery in Area 7. “That’s not enough for us,” responded Kelly Brown, the nation’s resource stewardship director. “We worked all night with people to get the proper stock assessment done, which shows that there is not enough herring here to sustain a commercial fishery.” Read the rest here Video 06:46
Feds to re-open herring fishery, over scientist and Aboriginal objections
A federal court struck down a legal attack by coastal B.C. First Nations attempting to overturn the federal Conservative fishing minister’s decision to re-open herring fisheries in coastal waters. Controversially, the court heard that Minister Gail Shea, a Conservative MLA from PEI, made the decision against the views of her own federal scientists. The Minister was not immediately available for comment late Friday. Read the rest here 22:55
Just Now!! The eyes and ears of marine science.
The eyes and ears of marine science. Fisheries observer Lauren samples herring catch off of Cape Cod. A recent graduate of N.E.F.O.P. herring training this was her first tow sample in the herring fishery. 18:27
Sitka’s Herring Population is Stronger than Ever
by Jake Ingman – 
Last week, Andy Rauwolf sent a letter to Sitnews full of panic and misinformation. The first of many things that need to be corrected is his assumption that the closure of the herring fishery was because of a lack of herring in the area. That is false; continued
