Tag Archives: Nova Scotia
Setting Her Own Course – Lobstering with Lunenburg Harvester Gail Atkinson
Gail Atkinson is one of Canada’s very few female lobster harvesters, who employs an almost entirely female crew aboard the Nellie Row. Gail Atkinson grew up on Cape Sable Island in Southwest Nova Scotia. Coming from a long line of fish harvesters and boat builders, she originally had no desire to follow in her family’s footsteps. “I ended up starting fishing with my father,” said Atkinson. “I started when I was a little bit older because I couldn’t wait to get out of there. But, something happened, and I just ended up back there and I ended up going for a trip fishing, and I just fell in love with it. The rest was history.” Atkinson spent almost 20 years fishing with her father before she went off on her own to run an enterprise. Photos, >click to read< 13:39
Cape Breton boatbuilders help DFO to face commercial, climate change challenges
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans is having four new patrol boats built in rural Cape Breton to address some of the challenges faced by fisheries enforcement officers. The new boats are larger than the existing ones to better deal with the effects of climate change, larger commercial vessels and heavier fishing gear. Once completed, the boats will be used in the Atlantic region. “As we’ve seen in the last couple of years, climate change is a huge thing … and adverse weather conditions are getting more and more frequent and our officers just don’t take a day off because it’s really bad weather-wise,” said Scott Phillips, DFO’s eastern Nova Scotia area chief of conservation and protection. Photos, >click to read< 17:27
In bluefin tuna, fisheries science is never neat
Pinchin’s eponymous kings are Atlantic bluefin tuna, marine predators that can weigh well over a thousand pounds, “imagine a grand piano shaped like a nuclear weapon,” as Pinchin puts it. Bluefin are extraordinary organisms: warm-blooded, keen-eyed, coated in pigment-producing cells that flash a rainbow of colors when the fish are hauled onto a boat. Pinchin excels at evoking her piscine subjects, whose sickle-shaped tails beat nearly as fast as a hummingbird’s wing. “To stand beside a just-landed giant bluefin, still slick from salt water, feels akin to standing beside a natural marvel like Niagara Falls or an erupting volcano,” writes Pinchin, a Nova Scotia-based science journalist. “There’s beauty, but also danger.” Her book isn’t just an ode to bluefin — it’s about humankind’s obsession with them, a fixation as old as our species. >click to read< 16:29
Sipekne’katik First Nation sues federal government for seizing lobster traps
The Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia is suing the federal government over treaty right infringement after officers with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans seized lobster traps belonging to its band members. Sipenkne’katik alleges that DFO fishery officers hauled lobster traps belonging to two of its band members from waters in St. Mary’s Bay near Saulnierville, N.S. July 18-19. In a statement of claim that was filed at Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on July 24, Sipekne’katik states that its members have a treaty right to fish for a moderate livelihood which “means they have a right to sell the lobster they catch.” >click to read< 11:34
Poor weather cuts Cape Breton spring lobster fishers’ catch
Combined with cooler temperatures, harvesters around Cape Breton said this year wasn’t as good as the past two — which were stronger than usual. “It definitely wasn’t a banner year,” said Ingonish harvester Michael Barron. Also the president of the Cape Breton Fish Harvesters Association, Barron said the season was “on par” with the average season for most fishers, rather than a bad one altogether. However, Barron said the average catch in the association’s area, Cape Breton’s east coast from Bay St. Lawrence to Gabarus, was down between 15 and 20 per cent this year. This season, lobster prices remained similar across most of Cape Breton. They didn’t see many fluctuations either. >click to read< 09:05
Despite whale detection, western Cape Breton crab fishers will complete quota in days
Part of Snow Crab Area 19, Cape Breton’s largest crab fishing zone in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has been restricted for at least 15 days by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). That comes after a North Atlantic right whale was detected last week by an acoustic sensor near Pleasant Bay. As a result, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has ordered fishers with traps in Area 19 to move them to the far north or south parts of the zone by Monday evening. While it is extra work to move the traps, most fishers anticipate almost no impact on the overall catch. “Catches are good, so a lot of the boats will be finished up in the next couple of days,” said Sandy Doucette, who fishes out of Cheticamp. >click to read< 20:00
Whale detection shuts down major portion of Cape Breton snow crab fishery
The detection of an endangered North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has forced the temporary closure of a major portion of the snow crab fishery off western Cape Breton. It comes just days after the season opened. The whale was detected by an acoustic sensor. Fishermen have until 5 p.m. Monday to move their gear out of a large closure zone. Many had just dropped their pots. The closure is set for 15 days. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans posted a notice of the closure to harvesters on Friday. It affects about 140 licence holders in what is known as Crab Fishing Area 19. >click to read< 17:22
Nova Scotia: New Lifeboat Enters Service for the Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard on Wednesday welcomed the CCGS Chedabucto Bay into its fleet at the Lifeboat Station in Clarks Harbour, Nova Scotia. The Bay Class vessel, built by Chantier Naval Forillon in Gaspé, Quebec and delivered earlier this year, is the 14th of 20 new search and rescue lifeboats that will be dedicated into service by the Canadian Coast Guard across the country. The shore-stationed self-righting lifeboats are specifically designed, equipped and crewed to respond to search and rescue incidents at sea. These vessels will operate up to 100 nautical miles from shore, maintain a maximum 30 minute state-of-readiness, and are typically ready to respond the moment an alert is received. Eah has a top speed of 25 knots and is manned by a four-person crew. >click to read< 07:43
N.S. fishermen rescued by coast guard land safely in St. John’s
Seven Nova Scotia fishermen say they’re happy to be back on solid ground in St. John’s after their boat took on water and they had to be rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard. John Gilkie, part of the crew of the Addie N Ainslie fishing for halibut out of Sambro, N.S., said the crew noticed a shaft vibration on the boat and decided to call their trip short. While coasting back in search of a tow on Tuesday, Gilkie said they heard a loud bang. “When we checked that, there was water pouring in in two different directions,”>click to read< 16:19
DFO says it has enough resources to monitor Indigenous lobster fishing in Nova Scotia
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says its enforcement branch will be on the water and adequately equipped to monitor compliance of First Nations lobster fisheries this summer. The pledge follows the chaotic fishery for baby eels this spring where there was widespread illegal activity by some Indigenous and non-Indigenous harvesters. DFO shut down the legal elver fishery, affecting both commercial licence holders and Indigenous groups with fishing plans approved by the department. But “poaching”, as federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray called it, continued. “I want to clarify they are two very different fisheries,” Maritimes region director of conservation and protection Tim Kerr told reporters Monday in a briefing on Indigenous rights-based lobster fisheries. >click to read< 08:35
In aftermath of sinking, crew member’s widow says Transport Canada reform falls short
Transport Canada will tighten inspections of fishing vessels in the aftermath of a deadly Nova Scotia sinking in 2020, but the widow of a lost crew member says the reform doesn’t go far enough to prevent future tragedies. Six crew members died on Dec. 15, 2022, when the Chief William Saulis capsized as heavy seas crashed into the rocking boat and 2,700 kilograms of unsecured scallops slid around a deck, blocking drainage. But Michelle Nickerson-Forbes, the widow of Dan Forbes, said in an interview Friday that the federal department is failing to move on what she and other families consider a root cause of repeated fishing tragedies: unstable vessels going out to sea. >click to read< 07:58
Ottawa accepts call for tighter fishing boat inspections in aftermath of N.S. sinking
Transport Canada says it will tighten inspections of fishing vessels in the aftermath of a 2020 sinking that resulted in six deaths off Nova Scotia’s southwestern coast. A March 22 report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada concluded that the dragger Chief William Saulis capsized because 2,700 kilograms of unshelled scallops blocked the drainage system as high seas crashed into the boat. It recommended that Transport Canada inspectors verify whether required, written safety procedures are available to crew, such as methods to store catch in a way that doesn’t block drainage. Video, >click to read< 12:53
Canada: Positioning for redfish re-opening
Canada’s commercial fishery for redfish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has remaind closed since 1995 to allow redfish stocks rebuild to healthy levels. Now the authorities are positioning to re-open the Unit 1 redfish commercial fishery in Atlantic Canada and Quebec in the near future. The announcement has been made by Minister of Fisheries Joyce Murray that in preparation for a pending commercial fishery, the 2023 experimental fishery for Unit 1 redfish will be increased from 2500 to 5000 tonnes. Twenty-four individuals and groups from Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have been approved to participate, five of which are Indigenous groups. >click to read< 07:48
‘They look at me as an outsider’: Cape Breton fisherman says boat burned, gear vandalized
Adam Morrison said he bought the licence for more than $800,000 and had fished lobster previously in a nearby community, Big Bras d’Or, for an employer. This was a chance to have his own boat, literally in his backyard. “I put my house on the line for this lobster licence,” Morrison told the Cape Breton Post. “They don’t want to let you make a go of it … They refuse to believe I went out on my own and got this.” In early May, Morrison, an early riser due to his profession, managed to stave off disaster when he noticed a fire onboard his boat, docked at the wharf on the rear of the property. Photos, >click to read and comment< 11:06
Ocean lifeline saved N.S. lobster pound cut off for 13 days by wildfires
The situation was bleak. The wildfire was moving closer and there were $5 million worth of live lobsters in tanks with no power, no refrigeration, no water circulation and no way to get fuel for the generators. “And the roads are closed. The roads were on fire. So it’s not like we could say, ‘wow, just let us bring a truck in.’ So we had to find a Plan B,” recalled Greg Sutcliffe, plant manager at the Fisherman’s Market lobster pound at Ingomar on the tip of southern Nova Scotia. It was one of two Fisherman’s Market operations on the coast inside the Shelburne County fire evacuation zone. At Ingomar, Plan B was to get there by boat. >click to read< 10:00
Nova Scotia judge rejects $170K compensation claim over seized lobster
The owner of a lobster pound has failed in his bid to be compensated for lobster that were seized by fisheries officers and dumped back into the ocean. A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has ruled the lobster were not caught or sold by someone who possessed a commercial licence to sell the catch. Rockville Carriers Ltd. operates a pound in Town Point, Yarmouth County. The company sued the federal government for compensation. On Nov. 15, 2019, fisheries officers raided the Rockville compound and seized more than 5,200 kilograms of lobster that had been delivered that morning. The lobster came from Kylie and Boys Fisheries Ltd., which is owned by David Pictou. >click to read< 15:27
The man who changed Canada’s lobster industry and his $1B deal to sell Clearwater
In Nova Scotia, John Risley is arguably a household name, synonymous with the seafood industry and his many conspicuous possessions. On both fronts, his reputation is well earned. In 1976, he and his brother-in-law Colin MacDonald started Clearwater, a dumpy retail lobster shop on the side of a suburban Halifax highway. From that simple start, Risley fundamentally changed the Atlantic Canadian lobster industry — transforming it from a seasonal, afterthought business to a year-round, $3-billion sector where lobsters are shipped overnight by air to customers in Europe and Asia, a premise unheard of before Risley entered the industry. Along the way, Clearwater matured into a global seafood company. >click to read< 07:43
Fishery observer accused of falsifying record in N.S. halibut fishery
Brian Richardson is a dockside monitor with Barrington Catch Centre Monitoring Association, a non-profit that provides third-party observers to record catch data for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The department alleges that in January, Richardson falsely recorded that a vessel’s fish hold was checked before and after a halibut offload in Sambro and falsely recorded that all the catch was accounted for. He was arraigned in Halifax provincial court this week on charges under federal fishery regulations. Richardson pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for February 2024. >click to read< 11:17
Nova Scotians arrange lobster dinner for American firefighter celebrating 60th birthday
Community members in Shelburne County took hospitality to the next level earlier this week, when they quickly arranged a 60th birthday dinner for an American firefighter who has been battling a massive wildfire in the area. Kevin Pezanowski, who is from New Hampshire, had travelled to Nova Scotia last week with a crew of about 17 firefighters from the northeastern United States to help fight the blaze. Nick Brand, who had been volunteering by serving breakfast to firefighters at the local arena, said he was at the right place at the right time when he heard about the firefighter’s milestone birthday on Monday. >click to read< 18:20
Southwest Nova Scotia seafood industry on edge as wildfires surge
As many as 20 seafood processing and holding facilities along Nova Scotia’s South Shore could be at risk because they fall within the wildfire evacuation order areas in Shelburne County, a scenario one industry veteran says would be economically devastating for the region. “When you’ve got a lot of inventory, millions of dollars, it’s critical and a significant concern to our members who have these facilities,” Osborne Burke, president of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, said in an interview. Burke said between 15 and 20 of the alliance’s members are affected by evacuation orders. Some of the facilities have generators that kick in automatically when the power goes out, while others require a switch to be manually activated. Relying on generators to maintain operations and preserve live lobster in holding tanks presents its own set of challenges, Nova Scotia Fisheries Minister Steve Craig told reporters on Thursday, because someone has to get fuel to those generators to keep the plants operating. >click to read< 20:31
Fishing area closed after North Atlantic right whale sighting set to reopen this week
A lucrative lobster fishing area in the Maritimes is set to reopen this week after a sighting of North Atlantic right whales shuttered the fishery just weeks into the spring season. The endangered whales were spotted earlier this month in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, northeast of Prince Edward Island’s Malpeque and Cascumpec Bays. The sighting triggered a 15-day closure of popular lobster fishing grounds — part of Lobster Fishing Area 24. The federal Fisheries Department says the fishing area is set to reopen Friday. But it says two surveillance flights are required before the area reopens to fish harvesters to determine whether whales are still present. >click to read< 13:32
Nova Scotia MP questions Chinese ‘control’ over lobster industry – Exporter calls claims ‘kind of racist’
“My concern overall is the growing influence of China and the control of our lobster industry itself and that’s throughout the supply chain,” said Rick Perkins, the Conservative MP for South Shore -St. Margarets, where lobster fishing is a cornerstone of the economy. Perkins raised the issue recently at a parliamentary committee looking into foreign ownership and corporate concentration of commercial fishing in Canada. “What about China? I know, for example, on the South Shore, I’m seeing China buy our buyers. What’s the impact of that? I also understand they control the freight forwarder at the Halifax airport,” Perkins asked Colin Sproul, an inshore fishermen’s representative appearing before the committee. >click to read< 07:36
Stock assessments show Maritime lobster population strong, fishery sustainable
Adam Cook is a DFO biologist who tracks lobster populations along the Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy, waters that support nearly 3,000 commercial licence holders in 12 lobster fishing areas (LFAs). Cook and his colleagues recently posted stock assessments for 2022. He said all LFAs in the Maritimes are in a healthy zone for stock status. “Which suggests there’s still enough lobster to not raise any sort of conservation concerns. The commercial biomass is doing quite well,” Cook said. It’s the same story in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, although DFO’s stock assessments for five fishings area in that region have not been posted. >click to read< 10:17
Bigger Mi’kmaw lobster fishery possible because DFO redistributed unused licences
Mike Leonard, director of Indigenous fisheries management for DFO’s Maritimes region, said the federal department has bought back lobster licences over the years as commercial fishers voluntarily relinquished them, creating a bank of licences that Indigenous communities can access. That process has allowed Eskasoni to join two other First Nations in the moderate livelihood fishery during this spring’s season without affecting the health of the lobster stocks, he said. “In the first year, in 2021, we worked with Potlotek First Nation and then last year We’koqma’q First Nation joined as well and this year it’s become an Unama’ki approach, so across the Unama’ki traditional territory, which aligns with Cape Breton,” Leonard said. >click to read< 08:55
3 Mi’kmaw First Nations excited about moderate livelihood fisheries
Three Mi’kmaw communities are celebrating their dramatically increased roles in the lobster fishery around Cape Breton Island this spring. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced Tuesday it has renewed moderate livelihood understandings with Potlotek and We’koqma’q, and now Eskasoni has joined them. Eskasoni Chief Leroy Denny said he is excited because up to 70 fishers will now be out on the water hauling in traps and earning a living. “It’s a really good thing, a really very big deal for us,” he said. Under interim understandings, the bands will fish during the commercial season, which is open now around Cape Breton and closes in mid-July. >click to read< 10:31
For Atlantic Canada, Fishing Season Brings Yet More Violence
In the early morning dark of April 12, 2023, violence erupted along a Nova Scotia riverbank after a man engaged a woman and a youth in a heated argument. Soon after, seven people arrived. One allegedly assaulted the man with a pipe while another stood nearby wielding a knife and a taser. When the RCMP later arrested two members of the group a short distance away, the officers found two shotguns and a taser. Conflict around elvers is not new, nor is it the only fishery in Atlantic Canada that’s seen so much turmoil. Whether it’s around elvers, lobsters, or something else, “this will continue to play out, and play out, and play out, until the government deals with the issues on the table.” >click to read< 08:05
‘Looks like the worst spring in 25 years’: lobster prices, catches down as seasons wraps up in southwestern N.S.
Landings have been low all spring in Lobster Fishing Areas (LFAs) 33 and 34, which runs from Eastern Passage, Halifax County, to Burns Point Digby County, and includes all of Yarmouth and Shelburne counties. “Some people are down as much as 40 per cent. Some not as much. From the numbers I crunched it looks like on average we’re down 25 per cent over previous years, which sort of looks like the worst spring in 25 years,” says Dan Fleck, executive director of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association. Cotter noted fishers in other recently opened LFAs in the Atlantic provinces are also experiencing low catches, bad weather and cold water temperatures. The shore price, which peaked at $13 a pound in the winter and early spring, plummeted to $8 in early May for LFA 33 and 34 fishers. >click to read< 14:48
Clearwater Seafoods wants 72 tonnes of lobster added to its annual harvesting quota
The Indigenous-owned company has exclusive rights to Lobster Fishing Area 41, or LFA 41, off southern Nova Scotia, where Clearwater maintains a long-held quota of 720 tonnes. Last fall, the Membertou First Nation and Mi’kmaw partners in the company asked the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to increase the total allowable catch by ten per cent. In response, DFO has issued an “interim” total allowable catch of 720 tonnes for 2023 while it considers this request. The Brazil Rock Lobster Association, the Coldwater Lobster Association and the LFA 33 Advisory Committee have submitted letters to DFO in opposition. >click to read< 08:44
No excuse for low lobster prices
The prices being paid to PEI lobster fishers a week into the 2023 season are underwhelming, with most getting $6.50 a pound for canners and $7 for markets. Last year fishermen were paid anywhere from $7 to $9 a pound, while in 2021 prices soared as high as $11. At Graham’s Pond, Travis Graham’s crew has been getting $6.50 for canners and $7.25 for markets. He said he doesn’t think much of those rates, but he’s optimistic things will get better. Edwin McKie, who fishes out of Fortune Harbour, said his crew has also been getting $6.50 to $7 on their tickets. But he expects things to get better. A friend in Maine told him prices there dropped from $10 to $7, and there isn’t a lot of lobster coming to shore there either. >click to read< 11:21
Licence technicality forces son of a Nova Scotia moonlighter lobster fisherman to move away
Mike Kaiser has fished lobster with his father, Dwayne, since he was little. Like many, he wants to carry on the legacy. On Tuesday, Mike Kaiser will move to Alberta to pick up work. He says he’d rather stay in Nova Scotia around his family, doing what his father did for nearly 50 years. But a policy that’s been around almost as long means Dwayne cannot pass on his licence to his son. He holds one of about 70 “moonlighter” licences granted years ago to part-time fishermen in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Those licences die with them. >click to read< 11:09
