Tag Archives: Labrador
Lobster’s nightmare: Vicious Atlantic wolffish is one scary catch in the Gulf of Maine
Atlantic wolffish are vicious looking. Their head is huge with gaping teeth that protrude from their lips both top and bottom, giving them a severe overbite. Their tail is tapered with long dorsal and anal fins, which give it a look of an eel. Beware to anyone trying to get a hook out of their mouth! These fish enjoy cold water and can be found throughout the Gulf of Maine to Labrador and down to the Great South Channel of Georges Bank in New England. Amazingly, they can survive in some of the coldest water by producing “antifreeze” proteins stored in their blood and livers. This keeps their blood from freezing under extreme conditions. Around age 5-6, they reach maturity and begin mating. It appears that wolffish are solitary animals except during the mating season, according to NOAA, which occurs in the Gulf of Maine during the fall. The wolffish find mates and remain together until the female lays her eggs. Lobsters beware! The teeth of the wolffish allow them to eat and crush almost anything they want, and what they want are lobsters. They have several rows of very sharp teeth. My husband, always a biologist, when he was fishing commercially regularly dissected the fish he caught to see what they had been eating. Twenty years ago, he opened a 20-pound wolffish and found 21 lobster tails and more body parts in its stomach! more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:20
Free fish and smiley faces won’t reverse Ottawa decision to unleash draggers on northern cod (although blockading St. John’s harbour would)
The FFAW regularly goes through protest motions, but its resolve to stand up for inshore boats is forever suspect when the union is conflicted by also representing offshore draggers, and onshore plants — and collects a paycheque from the feds. Now that Ottawa has opened the door to offshore dragging the inshore wants in on it too. Some Labrador (2J) harvesters have asked DFO to be allowed to drag for cod this year, and some 3K (northeast coast) and 3L (east coast) harvesters are right behind them with the same request. The union’s resolve against dragging for northern cod is sure to weaken. Exchanging cod for signatures won’t cut it. Blockading St. John’s harbour might be a bit extreme, but there should be a sweet spot somewhere the middle. Harvesters themselves must take a stand, like they did last spring with the snow crab price on the steps of Confederation Building. Now is the time for John Efford to rise again. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:35
Explorer Ernest Shackleton’s last ship found off Labrador’s south coast, says expedition
The last vessel helmed by famed Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, lost for more than 60 years, has been discovered on the ocean floor, less than half a kilometre off Labrador’s south coast, says the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Expedition leader John Geiger, the society’s CEO, said the wreck was found in the Labrador Sea, lying at a depth of 390 metres. He added it was in the vicinity of where the ship had been reported to have sunk. ”This is a very important vessel. Historically it was the final expedition ship of Sir Ernest Shackleton,” he said Wednesday morning at a news conference at the Marine Institute in St. John’s. “As many of you know, he died on this ship on his final expedition of the Shackleton–Rowett expedition, which set out to initially explore Canada.” Using sonar operated by Marine Institute staff, the international team say they found the Quest off the coast near Battle Harbour, on Sunday, five days into its expedition, which left June 5. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:24
Indigenous harvesters call for independent review of Nunatsiavut government shrimp allocations; conflict of interest questions raised
A group of seven indigenous inshore harvesters from northern Labrador say the Nunatsiavut government has denied them a 2024 share of northern shrimp quota in favour of a factory-freezer trawler and are calling for an independent investigation. “This is an injustice that goes against the spirit of our communal licence to preserve the culture and economy of the North Coast,” says Lisa Blandford, an Indigenous harvester on behalf the group. In past years the Nunatsiavut government has distributed its annual federal allocation of shrimp off northern Labrador to more than 20 inshore harvesters or “designates.” This year, however, Blandford said seven inshore designates have been told they will not be awarded northern shrimp. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:24Fishing trawler stable after taking on water off southern Labrador
A large fishing trawler is stable but taking on water off of the southern coast of Labrador on Wednesday, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. The Northern Osprey III, a 260-foot factory freezer shrimp boat, made the distress call Sunday, according to Phil Walker of the coast guard. The boat is registered in Halifax but fishes between southern Labrador and Iqaluit. Thirty crew members are aboard the vessel, Walker said. more, >>click to read<< 14:16
Mother of Man Lost at Sea Renews Call for Dedicated Search and Rescue Services in Labrador
The mother of one of two fishermen lost at sea is renewing her calls for increased search and rescue services in Labrador before a meeting with the federal government. Jeannette Russell, the mother of Marc Russell who, along with Joey Jenkins passed away when their vessel the Island Lady sank while on a fishing trip, will join provincial Labrador Affairs minister Lisa Dempster in a meeting with the Minister of National Defence in an effort to improve emergency response on the Big Land. Russell says if she doesn’t speak out, then who will? >click to read< 10:04
SAR air base for Labrador
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) congratulates board member Merv Wiseman for spearheading a resolution approved this past weekend by the Liberal Party of Canada to designate a search and rescue (SAR) air base for Labrador. “Labrador is one step closer to having 5-Wing Goose Bay designated a SAR air base that will save lives,” says Wiseman, a member of SEA-NL’s executive, and outspoken advocate for stronger SAR services and fishing-vessel safety. Passed unanimously on May 6th during the Liberal Party of Canada’s national convention in Ottawa, the resolution urges the federal government to immediately designate 5-Wing Goose Bay as a SAR air base, which would include stationing one of the military’s Cormorant SAR helicopters there. >click to read< 11:31
One shrimp stock off Labrador doing well but missed surveys means no new data for two other fishing zones
This news likely won’t come as a great surprise to most in Atlantic Canada’s shrimp fishing industry: scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) can’t provide a full assessment on two northern shrimp stocks on Canada’s east coast this year because they don’t have new data. In February DFO confirmed offshore trawl surveys in shrimp fishing areas (SFA) 5 and 6 could not be completed because a research ship was out of commission. In a technical briefing with media earlier Thursday, March 23, stock assessment biologist Nicolas LeCorre provided information mainly on SFA 4, the one zone where offshore trawl surveys were completed. >click to read< 08:04
Family of Labrador fisherman lost at sea take calls for inquiry into vessel safety to Ottawa
Jeanette and Dwight Russell met with a variety of ministers in a series of meetings earlier this month. Their son, Marc Russell, and his crewmate Joey Jenkins were reported missing Sept. 17, 2021, when their vessel, the Island Lady, did not return to report. The search was clouded with allegations from the families of a lack of co-ordination by governments and that the search was ended too soon. The RCMP called off the search after 10 days. Now the couple has met with several MPs, calling for a federal commission of inquiry into fishing vessel safety. “I don’t think we’re going to get there without an inquiry,” Jeanette said. “This is the hill I’m prepared to die on.” >click to read< 11:16
SEA-NL renews call for improved search and rescue for Labrador, federal inquiry into fishing vessel safety
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) joins in the renewed call for more search and rescue resources for Labrador and a federal inquiry into fishing vessel safety — encouraging other stakeholders like the FFAW-Unifor to do the same. “Safety at sea is a life-and-death issue that demands all hands on deck,” says Merv Wiseman, a member of SEA-NL’s board of directors, and an outspoken advocate for search and rescue/fishing vessel safety. “The lives of mariners off Labrador are as important as the lives of mariners off Newfoundland, and search and rescue resources must reflect that.” >click to read< 21:03
Jeanette Russell lost her son at sea a year ago. Now she’s starting a coalition.
Jeanette Russell is the mother of Marc Russell, who disappeared off the coast of Mary’s Harbour with crew mate Joey Jenkins aboard his fishing boat the Island Lady just over a year ago. “Labrador has twice the amount of coastline as the island portion of Newfoundland. It has three times the land mass compared to the island of Newfoundland.” “A secondary search and rescue unit does not have the accountability to always be able to respond.” That’s why Russell says she’s starting her own group, called the Labrador Coalition for Search and Rescue, to keep the pressure on government. >click to read< 13:38
Calls for change continue 1 year after fishermen die off Labrador coast
It’s been one year since fishermen Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins left the wharf in Mary’s Harbour to gather their nets for the last time. The two fishermen died off the southern coast of Labrador on Sept. 17 of last year. Their fishing vessel, the Island Lady, was last seen in the afternoon. No distress calls were received. “It can’t just be an anniversary, briefly. Something more needs to come out of it. No other family should have to grieve like this,” said Niki Greeley, a Lodge Bay resident and Jenkins’s common-law partner. The search on Sept. 17 last year started after Russell’s father noticed his son wasn’t on social media as usual that Friday night. His father called around and found out the boat wasn’t back at the wharf. >click to read< 08:24
TSB: Island Lady likely sank quickly and with no warning
Unable to examine a vessel that cannot be found, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Wednesday it cannot say what happened to a small fishing vessel that disappeared last year off the coast of southern Labrador. Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins of Mary’s Harbour were last seen Sept. 17 aboard the Island Lady, which fished from Mary’s Harbour. The pair had headed out to fish for cod. “The TSB’s investigation into this occurrence could not determine with certainty the cause of the disappearance of the Island Lady,” the board said in a statement Wednesday. >click to read< 14:42
Labrador Shrimp Company Partnership Brings 70 EPIRBS to Harvesters
Seventy commercial fishing enterprises in southern Labrador between L’Anse au Clair and Cartwright will receive an EPIRB. This is made possible through a living memorial to two young harvesters who lost their lives while fishing on the F/V Island Lady on September 17, 2021. Marc Russell, aged 25 from Mary’s Harbour, and Joey Jenkins, aged 30 from Lodge Bay, failed to return home to their community and were never found. The Labrador 
Shrimp Company is spear-heading the project in collaboration with the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Harvesting Safety Association (NL-FHSA), Fish Harvesters’ Resource Centre (FRC), Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board (PFHCB), and the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor). >click to read the press release< 13:52
Personal locator beacons – New coalition is making the devices cheaper for fishermen
There have been 20 fatalities in the province’s fishing industry over the past 10 years, and the bodies of five of those fishermen have never been recovered. So the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Harvesting Safety Association has partnered with the Fish Harvesters’ Resource Centre, the Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board, and the Fish Food & Allied Workers union to subsidize the cost of 2,500 beacons. Video, >click to read< 09:20
DFO responds to Ryan Cleary’s allegations of a ‘backroom’ plan
The interim executive director of Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador accused the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of orchestrating a “backroom” plan to rebuild the cod stock off southern Newfoundland and exclude the voice of inshore harvesters. According to Cleary, DFO has assembled a working group, made up of DFO and FFAW union officials, fish processors, indigenous interests and the offshore, sector to develop a rebuilding plan for cod in the 3Ps fishing zone. An official for DFO, however, says when DFO established the working group they invited members of the 3Ps Groundfish Advisory Committee to participate. >click to read< 13:32
SEA-NL condemns DFO’s backroom plans for rebuilding south coast cod stock
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (SEA-NL) accuses Fisheries and Oceans of orchestrating a “backroom” plan to rebuild the cod stock off southern Newfoundland and exclude the voice of inshore harvesters. “Any rebuilding attempt that does not include the input of the inshore fleet is doomed,” says Ryan Cleary, SEA-NL’s interim Executive Director. “When DFO leaves inshore harvesters out of the equation they get the math and science wrong, and the department is doing it again.” >click to read< 10:37
Search expands for missing Labrador fishermen, family and friends hold out hope
The search for Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins of Mary’s Harbour is now in its fifth day, with a large dive team from the RCMP’s underwater recovery team and Deer Lake ground search and rescue en route to the community Wednesday afternoon. The Ocean Seeker, a vessel equipped with advanced underwater imaging and owned by Kraken Robotics, has also been greenlighted to join the search and is on its way. “We were very proud yesterday after asking RCMP to to look into that asset, and last night it came true and they should be here tomorrow,” said Dwight Russell, Marc Russell’s father. >click to read< 15:55
Search resumes for missing Mary’s Harbour fishermen with Canadian Armed Forces, Coast Guard
The search for two missing fishermen from Mary’s Harbour has resumed with the help of the Canadian Armed Forces and the coast guard Monday, after the official search off the coast of southern Labrador was called off Sunday night. The JRCC tweeted around 9 p.m. Sunday that it had suspended the search for the Island Lady,,, Dwight Russell told CBC News on Monday morning his family was told the news around 7 p.m Sunday. After that call, he and his family pressed federal departments like the office of the prime minister, he said, and had been promised the search would resume. But come Monday morning and that promise “has not materialized,,, >click to read< 14:25
Lost Labrador fishermen
Seaward Enterprises Association of Newfoundland and Labrador has called on the National Commissioner of the RCMP to immediately request that the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, along with the Canadian Coast Guard, continue search efforts for two missing Labrador fishermen. “We’ve asked RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki in her capacity as the lead agency in the now-recovery mission to order the resumption of the maximum level of search and rescue effort to locate the fishermen,” said Merv Wiseman, an outspoken search and rescue advocate and organizer with SEA-NL. “As long as there’s a chance that these men may be found — and there is that chance — we must move heaven and earth to find them,” Wiseman said. >click to read< 12:26
Labrador fleet wants separate quota for northern cod – FFAW and FISH-NL do not support
Fishers from the 2J fleets partnered with the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company to make the proposal. In 2018, a 9,500-tonne limit was placed on the northern cod stewardship fishery for fishing zones 2J3KL.,,, Dwight Russell, a Mary’s Harbour fisherman, is chair of the 2J fishers. He told The Northern Pen the fleet is just looking for a fair share.,, Russell says he doesn’t believe the 2J cod fishing fleet, historically, has been given much opportunity to grow. He says if they could get a higher share of the total Northern cod quota, it would allow the industry to grow in the region. >click to read>08:34
“What We Heard” – DFO hosting inshore fishery outreach meetings in Labrador
Department of Fisheries and Oceans will host meetings in Port Hope Simpson and Cartwright on May 7. According to a press release from DFO, the meetings are for inshore harvesters and other interested stakeholders in Division 2J to discuss matters of concern in the inshore fisheries.,,, The meeting in port Hope Simpson will take place at 9 a.m. at Alexis Hotel and the Cartwright meeting is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the LFUSCo boardroom. >click to read< 16:12
‘What We Heard: A Discussion on the Newfoundland And Labrador Inshore Fishery’ >click to read<
Setbacks for Ramea’s scallop fishery
Labrador Gem Seafoods owner Danny Dumaresque is anxious about having a decent season at Ramea’s scallop plant this year. A few glitches with a new on board tank holding system and issues getting independent fish harvesters to provide the raw resource resulted in plant employees working less weeks than they are accustomed to. Approximately three weeks ago, a new refrigerated, recirculating sea water system that enables a vessel to carry live sea scallops in temperature controlled water was slightly too high, effectively parboiling the scallops that must arrive to the plant alive in order to be properly processed into the line of products the company produces. The equivalent of a metric ton of finished product had to be discarded. >click to read<13:25
There’s something wrong with cod
It will be another decade maybe, research shows, before harvesters can fish codfish commercially. It’s already been a quarter century since we’ve been able to fish cod commercially. Something is not right here. There has been ample time for cod to be back to commercial status with the minimum amount of cod that has been taken out of the system by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Why aren’t the cod stocks improving? Is it because of predators of cod and cod larvae, or is it due to seismic work for oil that is killing the food of cod and cod larvae? Is it poor science on cod stocks, and they really don’t know what’s out there? Is it because of foreign overfishing,,, click here to read the story 20:21
Ice Assistance Emergency Program – $5M for iced-in fish harvesters, but FFAW says plant workers left out
A Liberal member of Parliament says the federal government has allocated up to $5 million to help fish harvesters who are stuck in port because of heavy ice. Gudie Hutchings, MP for Long Range Mountains, said Friday the money will come under the Ice Assistance Emergency Program for eligible applicants in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Quebec. Some fishermen have been without income for more than two months, as ice socked in the coastline. “Plant workers have been just as impacted by severe ice delays as fish harvesters. Leaving these people out of the income bridging program is unacceptable,” said FFAW president Keith Sullivan in a news release Friday evening. click here to read the story 20:10
Last-in first-out policy squabble pits Nunavut and Labrador against Nova Scotia
There’s a danger that Nunavut’s already inadequate share of offshore shrimp quota could get even smaller if the Department of Fisheries and Oceans continues to apply its last in, first out approach to allocating shrimp quotas, Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson said last week. “All Nunavut asks for is to be treated fairly and to have the terms of their constitutionally protected Nunavut land claim respected,” Patterson said. Patterson’s contribution to the campaign comes at a time when various entrenched interests, especially long-established fishing fleets in Nova Scotia, are fighting to hold on to their total allowable catch in the face of shrimp stocks that are declining because of climate change. “Last-in, first-out,” or “LIFO,” is a federal policy that’s been applied to the northern shrimp fishery since at least 1997. Read the rest here 17:36
LIFO policy: Newfoundland and Labrador will take a major hit if the inshore shrimp fishery collapses
“In 2015, the inshore shrimp fishery contributed $250 million to the economy of rural Newfoundland and Labrador,” Phil Barnes said. “Economic hubs like Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook and St. John’s all benefit from the inshore fishery. “Inshore harvesters buy vehicles, groceries, fuel, gear and repair services. Plant workers also spend their income at local businesses,” he said. Barnes said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has to scrap its “last in-first out” (LIFO) for the Northern shrimp fishery. “Our inshore fleet has access to one area (Area 6) for a few months of the year while the offshore trawlers are in multiple areas all year round,” he said. “Someone is always there and this has to stop. Read the story here 12:57
Report suggests snow crab in decline
Jamie Rose hopes the numbers are as wrong as he thinks they are. That was the St. Anthony fisherman’s reaction to a snow crab report that was recently released by the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat. The annual report examined fishing areas 2HJ3KLNOP4R and it paints a bleak future for the upcoming season. The index-based report suggests exploitable biomass – large male crab – has declined to its lowest observed level in the last two decades of study, dropping from a highpoint of nearly 70 in the mid-‘90s to a all time low of around 10. Recruitment appears to have bottomed out. The index level is sitting around three points, which dropped from around 15 over the last five years. Read the rest here 11:26
Keith Sullivan – Leave scarce shrimp to the inshore fishery
The inshore owner-operator northern shrimp fishery, which is confined to the waters adjacent to the northeast coast of Newfoundland and south coast of Labrador, is being threatened with destruction as a result of poor management and a sharp decline in the stock. In 2015, the directly contributed approximately $250 million to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy. Much of this value originates in rural communities, paying wages to thousands of harvesters, processing workers and truck drivers, and providing profits to processing companies. Indirectly, the economy of the shrimp fishery keeps schools, businesses and municipalities sustainable. Read the rest here 09:41
Fishery the ‘economic giant’ of the province, says FFAW leader
Just weeks before Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial election, the fisheries union is starting a campaign to promote rural issues. The campaign is called Rural Works, and it is focused on the importance of the fishery to rural towns around the province. “The reason we were settled here is because of the fishery. The reason we remain here is because of the fishery,” said Fish, Food and Allied Workers president Keith Sullivan at a news conference Thursday. “It remains a primary economic driver …worth over $1 billion to our province. We think it can be worth much more,” said Sullivan. Read the rest here 19:09
