Tag Archives: Northumberland Strait
Atlantic herring suffering in warming Gulf of St. Lawrence
Decades of research show a slow decline in herring stocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and scientists are linking that decline to waters that are warming with climate change. Recent research from NASA found that about 90 per cent of global warming is occurring in the ocean. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Joël Chassé, an oceanographer with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said 11 of 12 months last year had warmer than normal surface temperatures, and he expects a similar pattern this year. “Fishermen in northern New Brunswick, the Baie des Chaleur region, were having difficulty finding the fish,” said Jacob Burbank, a researcher in fish ecology with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “They weren’t seeing Atlantic herring where they normally would see Atlantic herring. They kept waiting for them to come in for their spawning and they just didn’t see them.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:40
DFO issues warnings about lobster trap tampering in Nova Scotia
The federal Fisheries Department is investigating reports of gear tampering in lobster fishing areas in eastern Nova Scotia. The department issued a statement late Thursday saying Indigenous fishers taking part in officially sanctioned moderate livelihood fisheries have reported tampering in two fishing areas, as have non-Indigenous commercial fishers. The lobster fishing areas in question are 26A, which includes the eastern half of the Northumberland Strait, and area 27, which extends from the tip of Cape Breton near Meat Cove to an area on the east side of the island near Garbarus. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:55
My mom made waves as captain of her lobster boat. I’m proud to be her deckhand
A sou’easter blew with force, stronger by the second, making the waves choppy and short. My mom, laughing as she tends to in these situations, said, “Ya gotta drive ‘er it like you stole ‘er!” We were sailing at a good clip to keep her lobster boat steady and skip over the waves. A bit nervously, I laughed along with her, somewhat glad that we were cutting our fishing day short as we bounced among the tumultuous whitecaps. I was sitting at the lunch table where we sometimes enjoy a meal together as a break from the day. All seemed relatively fine, albeit a bit rough, until we had to turn starboard at a point where one current meets the other in the gully. Rather than taking the waves head-on, we were suddenly being slammed port side. photos, Video, more, >>click to read<< 07:46
Northumberland Strait fall lobster fishery opens under favorable conditions
After several delays, the fall lobster season is officially underway in Lobster Fishing Area 25. This region includes fishermen from southern PEI, northwestern Nova Scotia, and southeastern New Brunswick. The season was supposed to start on Wednesday but was pushed forward due to bad weather. Charlie McGeoghegan, president of the Lobster Fishers of PEI Marketing Board, says the boats set out on Sunday morning to cast their nets. “Any time you can get a scheduled day where the weather is nice and everyone is safe, they are optimistic,” McGeoghegan said. >click to read< 08:53
Unfavourable forecasts continue to keep P.E.I. lobster boats off water
Wednesday was supposed to be trap setting day for the fall fishery, which operates in the Northumberland Strait along the south coast from North Cape to Victoria-by-the-Sea, as well as off northern New Brunswick. But crews and officials decided to delay the start of the season during a weather conference call with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Tuesday. Another call Wednesday afternoon ended with no consensus on a Friday opening, so another call will be held at 10 a.m. AT Thursday to consider updated forecasts. The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association says that means Saturday will be the earliest possible opening day. >click to read< 10:43
How warming waters around P.E.I. could affect snow crab and lobster
Research scientist Joël Chassé says as the atmosphere warms, the ocean waters around P.E.I. are also heating up. “Changes are happening. It’s not deniable anymore. And if the these changes don’t slow down, we will have to adapt to these changes.” Chassé said there are implications for some fish species, some positive and some negative. Fisheries and Oceans biologist Tobie Surette said that while lobster is a warm water coastal species, snow crab prefer deeper, colder waters. “Lobster has largely benefited from the warming climates, at least so far,” he said. Surette said they don’t know exactly why that is. (Snow Crab) And for now, they are doing well: “We’re at the third-highest biomass in the history of the survey right now.” But Surette knows that could change. He has been in contact with snow crab scientists from Alaska. Photos, >click to read< 18:51
Lobster fishing is not profitable this year, fishermen explain
Rampant inflation and cooling markets are hitting Maritime lobster fishers hard. Six days after the start of fishing in the Northumberland Strait, some of them are receiving a price up to 40% lower than last year for their catch. A fishermen’s organization believes that this is not profitable. The atmosphere was not festive at the Cap-Pelé wharf on Tuesday afternoon. Fishermen have learned what price they will get for lobster this season: between $4.50 and $5 a pound. Last year at this time they were getting $7 a pound. We have prices, but it is not strong. They say it’s blocked everywhere, that lobster doesn’t sell, that’s the reason, explains Captain Guy Cormier. I take it one day at a time, we’re not dead today. >click to read< 07:50
Lobster fishing season in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence will open on Tuesday
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced on Saturday that lobster fishing areas 23, 24, 26A and 26B South will open on May 3 at 6 a.m. That includes areas along the northeastern coast of New Brunswick, the north shore of P.E.I., the western coast of Cape Breton, and part of the Northumberland Strait. The season was supposed to start on Saturday, but earlier this week the DFO postponed the opening due to the weather and the need for dredging at many harbours. >click to read< 19:40
Gulf lobster fishermen offer to give up season
“Three dollars a pound is what we’re hearing,” said Susan Beaton. The Cape George, Antigonish County fisher was working on her new tiny home on Thursday. It looks out over the grounds she fishes each spring from her boat The UnManned. Water she doesn’t know if she’ll be fishing in two weeks. None of the 600 lobster fishermen along most of the Northumberland Strait and the Eastern Gulf of St. Lawrence do. “We need an answer last Friday,” said Duane Boudreau on Thursday. The president of the Gulf Bonafide Fishermen’s Association wants a ruling from Fisheries and Oceans Canada on whether there will be a season this year. >click to read< 10:06
Fate of spring lobster fishery up in the air
“We recognize that current market conditions facing our industry are challenging, and the need to ensure that logistical support systems are in place to facilitate the movement and sale of seafood products.” The statement then points to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit that will pay $2,000 a month to anyone put out of work with COVID-19 as a mitigating factor. But with lobster licences going for nearly a half-million dollars in many harbours along the shore and the right to fish crab inshore going for around $130,000 per trap, that benefit doesn’t relieve the stress of recent buy-ins to this debt-driven industry. Buyers and processors also rely upon debt. >click to read< 09:19
Pulp mill shutdown not what P.E.I. fishermen were seeking
The president of the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association says the industry really wasn’t looking to have Pictou County’s Northern Pulp shut down its pulp mill. Bobby Jenkins says industry wanted the pulp mill to come up with an alternate plan to the one that would pipe effluent into the Northumberland Strait. >click to read< 11:40
“There are a lot more boats coming and bigger boats,” Tensions rise after suspected sabotage of Eskasoni fishing boat
The RCMP are investigating the apparent act of sabotage at the St. Peter’s Canal and have copies of recordings from video cameras there. The Eskasoni fishermen were catching lobster under the banner of a moderate livelihood fishery. While the right was acknowledged by the Supreme Court of Canada in its 1999 Marshall Decision, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has yet to reach an agreement with the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs on how to implement it. Meanwhile, tensions rise as First Nations fishermen on the Northumberland Strait, Cape Breton, Eastern Shore and South Shore have started to fish outside of the normal commercial seasons. >click to read< 07:44
Nova Scotia communities await decision on contentious pulp mill pipeline
Allan MacCarthy, a fisherman based in Pictou County, said fishermen remain convinced the effluent would pose a threat to lobster, crab, herring and other species in the strait over time. His protests landed him in court last year when a temporary injunction was imposed ordering him to stop blocking survey activities by the company. “Until the minister announces it (the decision), there’s not much we can do. >click to read< 08:04
Concerned groups offer assessments of Northern Pulp’s plan to pump effluent into strait
Groups that have voiced concerns about a Nova Scotia pulp mill’s plan to pump millions of litres of treated wastewater into the Northumberland Strait are to issue a response to that plan today. Northern Pulp submitted thousands of pages of documents,,, Several groups are scheduled to give their assessments of the focus report at a news conference in Pictou this morning, including the Town of Pictou, Pictou Landing First Nation, fishermen from across the Maritimes and the environmental group Friends of the Northumberland Strait, >click to read< 09:00
‘No pipe’ placards popping up on P.E.I. election signs
Some federal election signs around P.E.I. are carrying an extra message — candidates are adding a second, smaller sign printed with the words “No Pipe in the Strait.” The signs are from the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association, and they oppose a proposal by the Northern Pulp mill in Nova Scotia across the Northumberland Strait from Prince Edward Island to extend a waste-water effluent pipe into the strait, part of its plan to improve its pollution control. Nova Scotia’s environment minister has to make a decision by mid-December. >click to read< 18:43
Northern Pulp focus report now available to public – Claims no impact on marine life
The long-awaited focus report filed by Northern Pulp states that the mill’s proposed effluent treatment facility would exceed stricter federal guidelines being developed for pulp and paper plants. The report also shows that treated effluent coming out of the proposed pipe near Caribou won’t be cleaner than what ultimately enters the Northumberland Strait now at Boat Harbour. The report’s contents and the more than 20 studies done by Northern Pulp to create it were made public by the Environment Department on Thursday. >click to read< 10:28
Northern Pulp opponents question how province can be ‘lender, regulator and judge and jury’
With the province’s two highest courts questioning Gordon Wilson’s ability to make an unbiased decision on Northern Pulp’s effluent treatment plant, the Department of Environment offered up a two-sentence written response on Thursday.,,, Meanwhile, those opposed to Northern Pulp’s controversial plan to pump effluent into the Northumberland Strait are planning further court action,,, “I would think there are lawyers looking at injunctions right now,” hinted Allan McCarthy, a Caribou fisherman and one of the leaders of the opposition to Northern Pulp’s proposal. >click to read< 09:29
Warmer Northumberland Strait not good news for lobster fishery
As climate change warms the waters around Prince Edward Island, it could bring a new threat of disease to lobsters. University of Maine researcher Richard Wahle said his surveys of the waters around P.E.I. contain both good and bad news for the lobster fishery. There was good news in recent counts of baby lobster.,,, Warming waters around Rhode Island have led to shell disease and a drop in the lobster population there, he said. >click to read< 12:05
#NOPIPE – Fishermen still determined. No pipe in the Strait
Lobster traps are out of the water now in Nova Scotia as fishermen along the Northumberland Strait wrap up a successful spring season. The wharves on the Nova Scotia side are quieter than they were a year ago when 200 fishing and pleasure boats and 3,500 people readied for the #NOPIPE Land and Sea Rally on July 6 in Pictou Town and Harbour. People and boats from Nova Scotia, P.E.I., New Brunswick and Pictou Landing First Nation gathered in strong and vocal opposition to Northern Pulp’s proposal to discharge 60-80 million litres of treated pulp effluent daily into the Northumberland Strait. >click to read< 18:58
OPINION: #NoPipe activists won’t pipe down
Lobster traps are out of the water now, as fishermen along the Northumberland Strait wrap up a successful season. The wharves are quieter than they were a year ago, when 200 fishing and pleasure boats and 3,500 people readied for the #NoPipe Land and Sea Rally on July 6 in Pictou Town and Harbour. From three provinces and Pictou Landing First Nation, opposition to Northern Pulp’s proposal to discharge 60-80 million litres of treated pulp effluent daily into the Northumberland Strait was visible and strong. >click to read< 08:48
Fishing groups say concerns validated by missing data in Northern Pulp assessment
A working group of Maritime fishermen says a number of concerns regarding Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent pipe have been validated in a report released by the province of Nova Scotia. The fishing groups from P.E.I., Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Pictou Landing First Nation are maintaining a stance of “no pipe” in the Northumberland Strait and “no extension” to the Boat Harbour closure date following the April 23 release of a focus report – terms of reference by the province of Nova Scotia. >click to read<
Spring lobster season now underway in P.E.I.
A crowd of spectators gathered at the end of the wharf in Northport Friday morning to watch as Alberton Harbours fleet of lobster boats set out under a clear sky and in calm conditions. Prince Edward Island’s spring lobster fishery opened at 6 o’clock after being delayed four times due to wind conditions. Close to 1,000 P.E.I. boats in Lobster Fishing Area 24, Prince Edawrd Island’s north shore, and LFA 26A, the southesastern end of Northumberland Strait, participate in the spring fishery. >Photo’s, click to read<11:18
Fishers, First Nations fight Northern Pulp mill’s proposed effluent pipeline into ocean
On a bitterly cold March day, Greg Egilsson drives his pick-up down Fisherman Road to Caribou Harbour, parks on the deserted fishing wharf and gazes out at the blindingly white pack ice covering the harbour that provides him and many other fishing families their livelihoods. “Seventy boats come out of this harbour,” he says. “There’s another 10 or 12 out of Pictou Harbour, some more out of Sinclair’s Wharf and another 20 or more out of Tony River, west of here.” >click to read<11:18
P.E.I. fishermen exploring compensation if damage done to fisheries
The Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association is exploring ways members could be compensated if damage is done to local fisheries. The topic was on the agenda for the association’s annual general meeting Saturday. The group has been working with law students at the University of New Brunswick to research different compensation packages in the event of environmental damage. >click to read<
Northern Pulp alleges death threats in legal action against fishermen
Northern Pulp says protesters preventing survey boats from working have threatened to “hunt” and “kill” subcontractors trying to work on a proposed effluent pipe in the Northumberland Strait. The details of the escalating conflict between the workers and area fishermen are described in court documents filed by Paper Excellence Canada on Tuesday.The company is seeking an injunction against fishermen who have blocked its survey vessels, saying it must be allowed to safely finish the work that is on an urgent deadline. The company alleges the final straw was on Nov. 19, when 25 boats chased a survey team to the pier and intentionally created dangerous waves, endangering the lives of the contracted employees. >click to read<20:51
Northern Pulp – Senators want full assessment of plan to dump mill effluent off Nova Scotia coast
A group of Independent senators is calling on the Trudeau government to do a full environmental assessment of a “dangerous” plan in Nova Scotia to take effluent from a pulp mill, pipe it 10 kilometres out into the Northumberland Strait, and dump it. In the Red Chamber on Monday, Sen. Mike Duffy called it “a looming environmental crisis in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.”,, Last week, along with Sen. Diane Griffin, a conservationist from P.E.I., they met with representatives of fisheries groups from all three Maritime provinces. “If this scheme is allowed to proceed, it could damage the fishery in the three Maritime provinces, Quebec’s Magdalen Islands, and beyond,” >click to read<18:25
Fishermen’s blockade prevents survey ship from getting out of Pictou Harbour
In a showdown in Pictou Harbour Monday morning, a fleet of fishing boats forced a survey vessel back to port. Close to 30 fishing boats surrounded a small survey vessel tied to the wharf in Pictou and the attempt to survey the area for Northern Pulp’s new pipeline might be shutting down for several days. “They made it out to the mouth of the harbour,” said fisherman Darryl Bowen.“We were all just sitting there. They couldn’t get through, so they just turned around and came back in.” (Thank God someone has some fight left in them!) >Video, click to read<
‘Get out of here,’ fishermen tell crew on Northern Pulp survey boat
After a confrontation on the water, a fleet of fishing boats escorted a vessel believed to be conducting survey work for Northern Pulp back to the harbour in Pictou, N.S., on Tuesday morning. Fisherman Allan MacCarthy was the first to reach the survey boat about three kilometres from Caribou, N.S. “I said to them, you better get out of here because the ones that are following me aren’t going to be as nice as I am,” he said. “I just told the guys in the boat, your job is not worth this. Get out of here. Get that boat back to Pictou.” >click to read<
UPDATE: Northern Pulp pipeline could harm herring spawning beds, say P.E.I. fishermen
A marine biologist working with the Island’s fisheries association says a proposed effluent pipeline in Pictou, N.S. could have negative impacts on already threatened fish and marine habitats in the Northumberland Strait. Speaking before the P.E.I. legislature’s standing committee on agriculture and fisheries on Friday, Melanie Giffin, who works with the P.E.I. Fisherman’s Association, said key Atlantic herring habitats in the Northumberland Strait could be threatened by the proposed Northern Pulp pipeline in Pictou Harbour. >click to read<11:47
Body of 2nd fisherman in Kyla Anne capsizing found, says family member
A body has been found on the shore in western P.E.I., on the Northumberland Strait, and a family member has confirmed to CBC News it is Maurice (Moe) Getson. Getson was one of two fishermen who died when the fishing boat, Kyla Anne, capsized off North Cape on Tuesday. The body of Capt. Glen DesRoches was recovered on the weekend. Getson’s body was found near Campbellton, about 45 kilometres from the site of the sinking. One of Kyla Anne’s crew members, Tanner Gaudet, was able to swim to shore after the boat capsized. >link<10:06
