Tag Archives: New Brunswick
Chiefs in N.B. say DFO officers ignoring fishing rights
Indigenous chiefs in New Brunswick say the federal Fisheries Department is preventing members of the St. Mary’s First Nation from feeding their families after officers last week seized a lobster fishing boat operating in the Bay of Fundy. Canada is ignoring Indigenous rights to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes and to a livelihood fishery, the six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation said Wednesday in a news release. “St. Mary’s First Nation members are being prevented from feeding their families by DFO enforcement, and at the same time DFO seems intent on escalating the situation,” the chiefs wrote. “This is creating dangerous conditions for everyone on the water.” >click to read< 12:06
Kids in Elsipogtog sponsored to play hockey in honour of late fisherman, ‘Our Jumbo’
Captain Craig (Jumbo) Sock was a hockey defenceman and lifelong hockey fan, his favourite team being the Chicago Blackhawks. So when fellow fisherman Joshua Noel Millea decided to do something to honour his friend, who is believed to have died when his fishing boat capsized last year, it only made sense to incorporate hockey. “In memory of my brother man Jumbo … I would like to sponsor one kid for the upcoming hockey season,” >click to read< 08:42
Hitting the Lottery! A small New Brunswick town scores its 2nd big win
A retired crab fisherman won a jackpot online prize of $644,000, making him the second person from Le Goulet, N.B., to win a money prize. In early August, another retired fisherman from the same village won $1 million while playing Lotto 6/49. In a release Monday, Atlantic Lottery said Louis Mallet won a jackpot of $644,380 after he entered his Jackpot Scratch’N Win tickets into Atlantic Lottery’s 2Chance contest website. >click to read< 18:18
Lobster Fisherman is New Brunswick’s newest Millionaire – Atlantic Lottery says Clovis Roussel heard someone in his community had won and found out it was him when he went to the store. >click to read<
Lobster Fisherman Is New Brunswick’s Newest Millionaire
Atlantic Lottery says Clovis Roussel heard someone in his community had won and found out it was him when he went to the store. Roussel says his five children are also in the lobster fishery and one of his sons couldn’t believe he was a winner. “I walked in and told my son that I was going to buy myself a new truck and pay for it in cash,” Roussel said. “He didn’t believe me, so I told him it was because I had won $1million.” “’You’re lying,’ he says! Congratulations, Clovis! >click to read< 10:31
Widow, daughter of crab fisherman sue judge, lawyer for alleged negligence and misrepresentation
A woman and her daughter on the Acadian Peninsula are suing a judge and a lawyer for $13 million for alleged negligence and misrepresentation in handling a family dispute involving the estate of her late husband, a crab fisherman. Rita and Corinne Noël of Lamèque recently filed the lawsuit against New Brunswick Court of Appeal Justice Charles A. LeBlond and Jocelyne Moreau-Bérubé with the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench in Bathurst. But their legal battle dates back to 2013, when Raymond Noël died. At the heart of the conflict is his fishing licence and boat, the Régine Diane, according to the court documents. >click to read< 18:30
The Escuminac Hurricane capsized 22 fishing boats off the coast of New Brunswick
Between June 18 and 21, 1959, an Atlantic hurricane caused one of New Brunswick’s worst fishing-related disasters. The incident, called the 1959 Escuminac disaster, killed 35 people and caused US$2.5 million worth of damage. On June 18, the storm developed in the Gulf of Mexico. On the same day, it hit Florida and strengthened into a tropical storm. The storm reached hurricane strength on June 19 but was turned into an extratropical cyclone the same day. The storm’s remnants hit Atlantic Canada before dissipating on June 21., In Atlantic Canada, around 45 boats were in the Northumberland Strait when the storm was approaching. They didn’t have radios to receive warnings. The rough water caused at least 22 fishing boats to capsize. >click to read< 14:50
A group of Indigenous Fishermen want to take the Government of Canada to court with a class action lawsuit
Cody Caplin is frustrated. “They just keep taking away from me and my family,” he says. “The “they” he’s referring to are officers from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, who Caplin alleges keep him under surveillance. He says these officials are often around when he comes back to the wharf from fishing. “If we go drop traps, they’ll park their vehicle, walk on down to our boat, and say ‘you guys can’t put those traps in the water without tags.’ [And I’ll say] ‘well, actually, we can,’” he says. That’s why Caplin is part of a group of Mi’kmaq fishermen from across Atlantic Canada looking to launch a class action lawsuit against the Canadian government, claiming that their rights are not being respected. >click to read< 20:33
Canada cuts Atlantic mackerel quota in half to ‘rebuild stock’, to be released in two phases to ensure access
Canada has slashed the quota in half for Atlantic mackerel, from 8,000 tonnes last year to 4,000 tonnes this year. “This is a difficult decision that has economic impacts on commercial harvesters and their communities, but the science is clear: stronger actions need to be taken to rebuild the Atlantic mackerel stock,” said Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan in a news release Friday. That will help ensure fishermen in Newfoundland, where mackerel arrive later in the year, get access to some quota. >click to read< 08:03
Mothers Day: A salute to marine mothers, from lobsters to octopus
What makes the she lobster so contemporary is that she goes looking for her mate by tapping and poking the tips of her claws into the male abode, and if she finds the lucky catch, she enters, whereupon the male taps his claws as a welcoming gesture (she hopes). This behaviour is known as “boxing.” It is thought the future husband actually taps her to get a sense of the hardness of her shell and when she may molt, because when she does, the matrimonial action occurs! She will then lie on her back while the male performs his magnificent gesture. >click to read< 12:01
“It was really fun, I was excited.” 7-year-old Trent Collins skipped school to continue the lobster fishing family tradition!
Trent Collins may only be seven years old, but he knew he was ready to be part of his grandfather’s lobster fishing crew this week when the season opened. The Grade 2 Bathurst student has grown up going out on “Pa Daley’s” boat, Daley Catch, but Tuesday was different. It was the first time he went out on the boat with his grandfather, Keith Daley, and the crew without his parents. Daley, 63, remembers going out lobster fishing with his father and grandfather when he was five or six years old. He loved it, and his father bought him his own lobster licence when he was just 13. >photos, click to read< 10:37
F/V Tyhawk: wreckage of the fishing vessel has been located
Members of a community-led search team have spotted the wreckage of the fishing vessel Tyhawk that capsized off the Nova Scotia coast at the start of snow crab season earlier this month. The boat is in more than 70 metres of water. Craig (Jumbo) Sock, the boat’s captain, has been missing since the accident on April 3. He has not been located. The search team used an underwater camera to locate the boat. It is in an area where the boat was last reported. Volunteer searchers made the discovery Sunday. >click to read< 07:58
Volunteers continue search for missing Elsipogtog fisherman
A large-scale search is underway for any evidence of the Tyhawk fishing vessel or its missing captain. The New Brunswick based boat, owned by the Elsipogtog First Nation, sank off the coast of Cape Breton, N.S. earlier this month. Now friends and family from Mi’kmaq communities in both provinces are pooling their resources and raising money to try and find the boat’s captain, Craig Sock. Volunteer Starr Paul of the Eskasoni First Nation in N.S., said a search team is in Chéticamp, N.S. scouring the shoreline and the water for any evidence of Sock, who was known as Jumbo. Four of the six crew members on the vessel were rescued after it took on water and capsized on April 3. Seth Monahan died and Jumbo was later declared missing and presumed dead. >click to read< 10:18
Mi’kmaw community requested a crab season opener delay from DFO prior to boat sinking
The fisheries manager for Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick says the community asked the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to delay the opening of the crab season days before a boat capsized off Cape Breton killing two crew members. According to Dawn Levi, the season started too early and a request was made to delay it. “We had a call last Thursday, on the call were industry representatives including DFO, I requested a delay in the season until it was safe for all our boats to be out there,” According to Levi, DFO said the season was starting because of “protocol.”. >click to read< 12:47
Crab fishing season off to early start on the Acadian Peninsula
New Brunswick’s snow crab fishers have begun their season. At the wharf in Shippagan, boats prepared to take to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence late Friday despite frigid temperatures and the presence of ice in some places. The season officially began at midnight. For Capt. Renald Guignard, it marked the continuation of a family tradition. The Acadian Peninsula received help from icebreakers from the Canadian Coast Guard and contracted boats to allow access to the waters before endangered North Atlantic right whales arrive. >click to read< 17:30
Icebreakers are clearing the way for early Snow crab season with less risk for right whales
New Brunswick’s lucrative snow crab industry is just weeks away from a head start to the season, could result in higher revenue and less risk for North Atlantic right whales. Icebreakers from the Canadian Coast Guard and contracted boats began clearing the waters near Shippagan and Caraquet on the Acadian Peninsula over the weekend. Gilles Thériault, who lives in Tracadie, said fishermen are thankful for the icebreakers. “The quicker we catch our quota, the less danger there is of whales being trapped into ropes,” he said. “We hope that the vast majority of the quota will be caught before the whales arrive.” >click to read< 15:43
New Brunswick: US company plans to build a lobster distribution warehouse in Bayside, upsetting some neighbors.
Little Bay Lobster of Newington, N.H., is proposing a 2,300-square-metre building that can hold as much as 300,000 pounds of live lobster. Owner, Jonathan Shafmaster says the company has been looking for a spot to set up in New Brunswick for over two years. “We have run out of space and we can’t expand,” Shafmaster said. “We buy a lot of lobsters in Canada and you have a very well-managed fishery.” He said Little Bay Lobster buys over two million pounds of Canadian lobsters annually, and the majority of the crustaceans sent to the Bayside warehouse will come from this country. But the proposed location for the metal-clad building, on a former gravel pit property on the St. Croix River, has Gary McDougall in a boil. His home would look down on the building. >click to read< 10:07
Consultation lacking on decision to reactivate licenses for Indigenous communities
The reactivation of dormant lobster fishing licences by the federal government has prompted a terse statement from the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) and the Maritime Fishermen’s Union (MFU). The two organizations say they were left out of consultation over the reactivation of 10 lobster licences by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in the Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 25, located on the western end of the Northumberland Strait between P.E.I. and New Brunswick.,,, The statement said fishermen were “frustrated” by the lack of consultation prior to the decision and called for the federal government to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen’s organizations. >click to read< 09:54
After months of lobster industry losses, things may finally be taking a turn for the better
“We’ve come through the pandemic and it’s been challenging for everyone, to say the least,” says Geoff Irvine, Executive Director of The Lobster Council of Canada. This week, lobster season opened for some parts of the Maritimes including the North shore of New Brunswick, some parts of PEI, Nova Scotia’s Northumberland Strait and pars of Nova Scotia’s Northumberland Strait. “We’ve seen the lobster market adjust quite dramatically from very strong demand and high, high prices, record prices in January pre-pandemic, and we’ve adjusted to a new reality and we’re in recovery mode now,” Irvine says. >click to read< 16:01
Good Karma! Catching two coloured lobsters, one blue and one calico, comes days after child saved from drowning
A fisherman for 42 years, Gary Robichaud was out fishing lobster with his three sons, Alex, Zachary and Sylvain, when they found a blue lobster in a trap. After celebrating that catch, taking pictures and posing with the bright blue lobster they were even more surprised when 15 minutes later another rare coloured crustacean was found trapped inside another trap. The market sized lobster was calico coloured, another rare catch for the fisherman. Asked if this had ever happened before, Robichaud said no. “It’s never happened to me,” he said of catching two rare coloured lobsters on the same day. But Robichaud said he will take it all as signs of the good luck he’s been experiencing including how things fell into place during the rescue of a 10-year-old boy May 29. >click to read< 20:00
Process local lobster first, say Val Comeau fishermen after devastating processing plant fire
Steve Ferguson said he wonders what will happen next as they wait to see if the buyer they deal with at Les Pêcheries de Chez-Nous factory will be able to help them out. While a large part of the plant was destroyed in a fire, a portion of the processing plant not damaged is set to resume processing lobster this week with about a third of the staff. The company said 331 people were working at the plant at the time of the fire, and 100 lobster fishermen sold their catch to the plant. Local fishermen want to make sure their catch will take priority over lobster being brought in from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. “At the end of the day, if they can’t produce our lobster from here, why are they bringing so much from other provinces. >click to read< 15:15
UPDATED – New Brunswick: ‘This is terrible’, Val-Comeau seafood processing plant goes up in flames
A seafood processing plant in northeastern New Brunswick has gone up in flames Thursday afternoon. A plume of thick black smoke could be seen coming from Les Pêcheries de Chez Nous facility in Val-Comeau, a small coastal community now part of the regional municipality of Tracadie. Emmaneul Moyen, a representative of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, told Radio-Canada it’s devastating news. He said about 100 local fishermen sell their catch to the plant, which had been operating at full capacity. “We are probably talking about 250 workers,” he said. >click to read the updated story< 16:47
Amid escalating conflict, Ottawa orders temporary shutdown of Maritime elver fishery
The multimillion-dollar elver fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick has been shut down amid escalating conflict between commercial and Indigenous harvesters, according to an industry representative. Riverside disputes and threats of violence during the spring elver fishery in 2020 rose to the point where local police intervention was required,,, The order says estimated elver removals were “far above the established catch limits in areas where fishing is occurring, which represents a threat to the conservation and protection of the species.” >click to read< 07:28
Feds delay Snow Crab season in Gulf of St. Lawrence
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the decision on Thursday to pause the season will let everyone involved in the fishery to put necessary health and safety measures in place. Seafood processors in the Maritimes had called on Ottawa to delay the crab and lobster season, warning that moving ahead with fishing risks workers’ health — and the bottom line — amid the COVID-19 pandemic.,, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said Thursday the province hopes Fisheries and Oceans Canada will delay the spring season for a few weeks, with the possibility of federal compensation. The Maritime Fishermen’s Union, which represents 1,200 harvesters in New Brunswick, said Friday they support a delay of the lobster season until May 15 >click to read< 16:28
Coronavirus: Maritime lobster processors call for a minimum two-week delay opening the spring fishery
It’s the latest reaction to collapsed demand after measures to curb the spread of coronavirus shut down markets like restaurants and cruise ships around the world. The request is being taken seriously by lobster fishermen’s groups in eastern Nova Scotia, which have held conference calls since a letter from the processors, titled “Message to Canadian Lobster Harvesters,” was delivered March 23. The letter was written by Jerry Amirault, of the Lobster Processors Association of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, on behalf of “Canadian lobster processors.” >click to read< 09:46
Coronavirus: “These are not normal times” Situation changing ‘by the hour’ as seafood industry reels
New Brunswick’s seafood industry is reeling as the coronavirus fallout spreads in traditional markets around the world. “Things are changing by the hour,” said Melanie Sonnenberg of the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association.,, It is a concern shared by other companies. It is estimated well over a thousand international workers are employed in the industry during the processing season, which begins in May. The spring lobster season on the Bay of Fundy’s north shore also starts in May. And in Dipper Harbour, fisherman Greg Thompson is pretty sure of one thing: prices will be rock bottom. >click to read< 06:47
Coronavirus: Snow crab fishery worries outbreak could be bad for business
Next to the lobster industry, snow crab is the biggest fishing industry in the province, as millions of dollars worth of New Brunswick snow crab is sold internationally. About 85 per cent of snow crab products are sold to U.S. markets, particularly casinos, restaurants, and all-you-can-eat buffets, popular in states like Florida, Georgia and Maryland. The New Brunswick delicacy is also popular on cruise ships.,, The industry won’t know what kind of impact the virus will have on the fishery until the season starts in April. more >click to read< 10:35
Fishermen clash over fishing rights across the Maritimes, tensions are running high
Canada’s highest court has refused to hear a Mi’kmaw fisherman’s appeal to have legal costs covered in a lawsuit against Ottawa – a potentially groundbreaking case seeking to define treaty fishing rights. The case comes as clashes between non-Indigenous and Indigenous fishermen intensify across the Maritimes. Observers warn the simmering tensions could lead to violence if the “moderate livelihood” fishery described in Donald Marshall Jr. case two decades ago is not clarified. “By not dealing with it, the government is responsible for continued conflict in the fishery.” >click to read< 08:55
The Women Doing Canada’s Most Dangerous Job: Fishing
“The first two captains I asked for employment—one was a family friend and the other my uncle—told me no when I asked for a job,” Fleet said. “As I’d never done it before, I didn’t exactly know what the risks and dangers were.” At the time, Fleet knew of only one woman who worked on a lobster boat, out of an estimated 1,500 Grand Manan residents in the industry. The only position she found was available because few others wanted to take it. Notorious for being reckless and hard to work with, the captain had lost two of his crewmen overboard the previous spring, though he was able to retrieve them safely. When she heard Fleet would be working with him, Fleet’s mother cried. >click to read< 21:01
Quebec First Nation challenging commercial lobster fishing limits
An Indigenous band in eastern Quebec is challenging the limits of its commercial fishing licence, saying the federal government should allow its members to sell lobster caught during its fall fishery in the Bay of Chaleur. The Mi’kmaq community of Listuguj, located near Cambellton, N.B., has the right to fish for lobster in the fall, but the catch can’t be sold because it’s supposed to be part of a sustainable food fishery — not a commercial enterprise. >click to read< 10:21
Fishermen want to see studies from Northern Pulp
A fishermen’s working group, representing fishermen from Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick, is concerned that Northern Pulp (NPNS) has not replied to their written request to share completed reports and studies relating to the company’s proposed new effluent treatment facility. “We emailed Northern Pulp over a week ago, requesting that they send us all completed studies and reports within seven calendar days,” says Jamie Simpson, lawyer for the group, which is based in Pictou, N.S. “To date, we have not received a response.” >click to read< 13:56
