Tag Archives: Melanie Griffin
Flaws in Catch-Share System Frustrate Scallopers
Every year, regulators set a maximum number of pounds of scallops the entire small-boat fleet is allowed to catch. Each vessel owns or leases a share of that total, which determines how many pounds of scallops it can land that year. That share is called quota. Owning or leasing one percent in quota, for example, allows a vessel to take one percent of the total regulators set. Scallopers say the major flaw in this so-called catch-share system, which is also used in a handful of other federal fisheries, is that it requires them to pay huge fees every year to lease quota. It’s an expensive extra cost, they argue, that makes it especially hard to get into the business. “It’s a failed system,” said Damian Parkington of Wellfleet, owner of the F/V Roen Keil, “and it’s done a number on small business in coastal communities.” >click to read< 21:45
P.E.I. fishermen getting more time to start using breakaway lines that protect right whales
When the deaths of dozens of right whales made headlines in 2017, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans took notice. It saw that whales were getting tangled in fishing gear and dying when they couldn’t escape. So, the department set a deadline for Canadian fixed gear (trap) fisheries to begin using breakaway lead lines that would allow anything weighing 1,700 pounds or more to break free. That deadline was extended last year until 2023, and last month it was extended for another year, said Melanie Griffin, a marine biologist with the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association. >click to read< 10:48
