Tag Archives: Prince Edward Island
‘It’s the best time of year’: P.E.I. 2023 lobster fishing season opens on south shore April 26
The 2023 spring lobster fishing season opens this week along P.E.I.’s south shore, and excitement is building for what could be one of the nicest setting days in years. This year, there will be two opening days for the spring lobster season. Setting day for harbours along the south shore will be on Wednesday, April 26 – four days earlier than the traditional setting day of April 30. general manager for the Souris Harbour Authority, told SaltWire during an interview on April 24 he is excited about the early start. “It’s the best time of the year,” Daggett said. “We’d give up Christmas for it. It’s the best.” >click to read< 11:17
P.E.I. harbours damaged by Fiona being readied for spring lobster season
At Red Head Harbour near Morell, about 75 per cent of the harbour’s infrastructure was damaged by the late September wind and waves from Fiona, and some of the repairs are expected to take years. “We had lots of room before and everybody had to tighten up. Everyone had to take less space to allow a couple more gears in the east wharf and the south wharf,” said David Sansom, president of the Red Head Harbour Authority. Ottawa designated $100 million for urgent harbour repairs as part of a $300-million recovery package for Atlantic Canada announced in the days after Fiona. Photos, >click to read< 07:05
Impact of bait closure heightens
The Atlantic spring herring fishery will not reopen this year, and while no decision has been made on mackerel yet, the stock remains deep in the critical zone. When the closure was announced in 2022, fishers already had bait stored up from the previous year. This year they expect to feel the full effects with the higher cost of sourcing alternatives. Allen Fay, a former bait fisherman out of North Lake who now fishes lobster, tuna and halibut, says the bait bill could double. It will be especially hard on younger fishers just getting into the industry who are already paying a lot for gear. Like many fishers, as well as the PEI Fishermen’s Association, he feels the closure doesn’t make sense because Americans will continue to fish the same mackerel stocks. >click to read< 11:53
P.E.I. company adding seal meat to produce ‘Cadillac’ of baits
Bait Masters started producing bait sausages in its $1.4-million facility in Nine Mile Creek in April 2021, using a mix of fish, fish oil and other organic matter in a biodegradable casing. Now the recipe is changing. “Part of that decision came from fishermen who requested it, and part of it came from the abundance of seal, and needing to find a use for… the product,” said co-owner Mark Prevost. “So far, I think seal would probably be one of the higher end as far as quality goes, with oil and fat. I would consider it the Cadillac of all the baits that we’ve tried to make. Photos, >click to read< 07:47
P.E.I. fishermen concerned mackerel fishery won’t open in 2023
P.E.I. fishermen are worried they won’t be able to fish mackerel to use for bait this spring. Last March, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans put a moratorium on commercial fishing for mackerel across the East Coast. At the time, DFO said mackerel stocks were low and needed time to recover. Some fishermen say it’s impacting landings, and that not being able to fish their own mackerel for bait is hurting business. “With the U.S. fishing, I mean, they already issued their quota for the year and here we are not knowing yet, but you know, what we don’t catch they’re gonna catch and it’s actually worse for the fishery,” said Trevor Barlow, lobster fisherman and co-chair of the mackerel committee with the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association. >click to read< 08:55
Meet the next generation boatbuilder taking over the family business – Jaxen Doucette has been an entrepreneur since age nine
“I always wanted to do something with business and never, ever wanted to work for somebody else. I always wanted to do my own thing. And here we are.” Now, he runs the fibreglass boat-building business in Miminegash, P.E.I., with his family’s name over the door. Doucette’s Boat Building builds 45-foot fibreglass fishing boats and employs 12 people year-round, though they take an extended break in the summer due to the heat. The company usually has four boats on the go, Doucette said, and finishes one per month. The company was founded in 1990 by Jimmy Doucette, Jaxen’s grandfather. He took over earlier this year after the elder Doucette died. “He built six or seven of his own wooden boats and then they took a mold off the last wooden boat, which gives us our fibreglass boat.” Photos, >click to read< 10:39
Fisheries Department scrambled to claw back ‘ill-timed’ lobster tweet during Fiona
Some people can’t see the forest for the trees. Others can’t see the hurricane for the lobsters. On Sept. 24, around 9 a.m. Atlantic time, a few hours after Hurricane Fiona had slowed slightly into a post-tropical cyclone and slammed into Nova Scotia, the federal Fisheries Department issued two preplanned posts on Twitter and Facebook. The first urged everyone to avoid the coastline and stay safe. The second warned them off helping themselves to wayward lobsters. “As well, if you find lobsters washed up on the shore after the storm, remember it is illegal to harvest them,” it read. “Simply leave them there.” >click to read< 10:17
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
P.E.I. fishermen welcome extension on deadline for gear to protect whales
Some members of the P.E.I. fishing community are welcoming DFO’s decision to extend the deadline for break-free fishing gear until 2024. This is when fishers will be required to use gear designed to break under 1,700 pounds to help species like the endangered North Atlantic right whale escape during an entanglement. “I mean, we’re certainly happy to see it extended,” said Marvin Jollymore, a lobster and eel fisher from New London, P.E.I. “There’s so many questions as to, you know, how long does [the gear] last? You put it in, does it last one season? Does it last two seasons, does it last forever? Is it only good for half a season?” >click to read< 07:59
Remains found in P.E.I. those of N.B. teen who fell off fishing boat: RCMP
Police say human remains found in Prince Edward Island in September are those of a teenage boy who fell off a fishing boat in New Brunswick in August. The RCMP responded to a report that human remains had been found in the water near Skinners Pond, P.E.I., around 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2022. At the time, police said it was possible the remains could be connected to the disappearance of 15-year-old Justin Landry. On Monday, the RCMP confirmed the remains have been positively identified as those of Landry. >click to read< August 30, 2022 – RCMP divers take over search for teen who fell overboard from fishing boat – >click to read<
Looking to get into lobster fishing? You’ll need deep pockets
Mark Hackett is a broker who works with people looking to buy and sell fishing licences, boats and gear, such as traps. He recently retired after 50 years of fishing for lobster out of Seacow Pond in western P.E.I. Hackett said these are the highest prices he’s ever seen — up to $1.8 million in some cases. “I never ever thought they’d be as high as they are now. It could start dropping, or it could go higher. I have no idea. Seems like there’s no downturn yet. It could drop right down, depending on the interest rate,” he said. It was different when Hackett got into the fishery. >click to read< 07:56
One wharf to be ready by spring at Red Head Harbour
When fishers at Red Head Harbour assessed the damage to the north side port after Hurricane Fiona in September the outlook appeared grim. But work that is set to begin in the new year should have one wharf ready for the 2023 spring lobster season, said Harbour Authority president David Sansom. The east wharf, which was the least damaged infrastructure at the harbour in Morell will be addressed first. Repairs were necessary following an unprecedented tidal surge inside the bullpen. There are 32 lobster fleets and up to eight mussel and oyster boats that call the harbour home. >click to read< 11:27
How do you show a lobster some love? A Cape Breton researcher has plenty of ideas
Michelle Theriault, a marine biologist at Université Sainte-Anne, tells her students to heap loving care on lobsters destined to markets in Auckland and Athabasca – and everywhere in between. So, how do you dote on lobsters? I dropped in on one of Theriault’s Zoom classes for lobster exporters to get some answers to that question. And while she was narrow-casting her class from the University’s Marine Research Centre at Petit-de-Grat, Cape Breton, lobster fishers were headed to sea to dump their traps on the opening day of the winter season south of Halifax. >click to read< 16:22
Is Sausage the Missing Link in the Great Bait Debate?
Imagine you’ve got a lobster in front of you, bright red and softly steaming. There’s a fish in that picture, too, though you can’t see it—the fish that was tucked into a trap to lure in the lobster that could end up on your dinner plate. There’s no fish visible in the thick sausage Wally MacPhee lifts off the top of a half pallet of cardboard boxes either, even if it smells of the sea and has a piscine give to it when squeezed. But he’s hoping lobsters won’t know that—for the fishers’ sake, and for the sake of the small silvery baitfish this partially frozen cylinder is meant to replace. >click to read< 09:14
Ottawa earmarks $100 million for lost fishing gear, repair to harbours – $300-million fund for Atlantic Canada not enough, fishermen say
The federal government says $100 million from its hurricane Fiona fund will be earmarked for the recovery of lost fishing gear and the repair to small-craft harbours across Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec. The federal Fisheries Department says in a news release the money will come from the $300 million Ottawa set aside for fishers, communities and companies affected by post-tropical storm Fiona, which made landfall on Sept. 24. >click to read< $300-million fund for Atlantic Canada not enough, fishermen say – Fishermen on P.E.I. say the federal government’s $300-million fund for Atlantic Canada is a good start to recover from post-tropical storm Fiona but falls far short of what is needed. It will cost millions just to fix the wharf at Covehead Harbour alone, said Allan Coady. >click to read< 09:26
After Fiona’s wrath, Atlantic fishing communities look to rebuild livelihoods
All week, fishermen across Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were left to reckon with the damage left in Fiona’s wake, and to the region’s industry, which exports more than $4.5-billion worth of seafood each year. But as officials plan for the future, they face two competing priorities: the need to rebuild fast to be ready for the coming fishing season and the need to rethink infrastructure entirely in the face of climate change – a costlier, and potentially slower, approach. “PEI’s a mess. Newfoundland’s a mess. Nova Scotia’s a mess. And it’s all the same people who are fixing them,” said Leonard LeBlanc, President of the Gulf Nova Scotia Fishermen’s Coalition >click to read< 10:03
With thousands of traps lost to Fiona, N.B. lobster fishermen ask for extended season
The fishing season for Zone 25, which includes fishermen along the Northumberland Strait in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, began on Aug. 9 and was scheduled to end on Oct. 12, said Luc LeBlanc, an advisor with the Maritime Fishermen’s Union. However, with early reports those fishermen may have lost about half of all of their lobster traps, LeBlanc said the plan is to ask the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the season to be extended until at least Oct. 15. LeBlanc said there are 388 lobster fishermen in Zone 25, with each using 250 traps at a time. That means around 42,000 traps are unaccounted for. >click to read< 07:35
Body found as Canada struggles to restore power after storm – ‘Everything is unusable’
Hundreds of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada remained without power Sunday and officials said they found the body of a woman swept into the sea after former Hurricane Fiona washed away houses, stripped off roofs and blocked roads across the country’s Atlantic provinces. After surging north from the Caribbean, Fiona came ashore before dawn Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, rains and waves. >click to read<
‘Everything is unusable’: Fishers, farmers assess damage as Fiona wreaks havoc on industry – Officials have said areas exposed to storm surges have seen the most severe damage from the storm. In Morell, the Red Head Harbour wharf was almost completely totalled. Ken Drake was one of the fishers who spent Friday night there keeping an eye on their boats. He said all the boats have at least some damage. >click to read< 08:05
Hundreds of thousands without power in Atlantic Canada as Fiona makes landfall
Hundreds of thousands of customers in eastern Canada are without power as post-tropical storm Fiona brings intense, hurricane-strength winds and torrential rains to swaths of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec’s Magdalen Islands. Fiona made landfall in Nova Scotia shortly after 4 a.m. AT between Canso and Guysborough. >click to read< – New Brunswick – While the eye of the storm is well east of the province, post-tropical storm Fiona is causing widespread power outages through much of New Brunswick. >click to read< – Prince Edward Island – Tens of thousands of Maritime Electric customers are without power in P.E.I. as Fiona passes through the region, with wind gusts hitting 150 km/h and almost 100 mm of rain down. >click to read< – Nova Scotia – Hundreds of thousands of customers in Eastern Canada are without power as post-tropical storm Fiona brings intense, hurricane-strength winds and torrential rains to swaths of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec’s Magdalen Islands. >click to read< – Newfoundland – Homes lost, residents flee as Hurricane Fiona approaches Newfoundland. >click to read< 08:40
Atlantic Canada makes strides to decarbonize commercial marine vessels
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, with federal government support, are currently investigating opportunities to electrify certain classes of vessels in an effort to help decarbonize the marine transportation sector. Next spring, the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) is planning to launch a pilot project to test different energy-efficient vessel propulsion systems, such as electric, hybrid or alternative fuels, for nine of the PEIFA’s inshore lobster fishing vessels. With combined funding of $3 million provided by both the federal and provincial governments, distributed through the Atlantic Fisheries Fund, the PEIFA is at the preliminary stages of developing the pilot. >click to read< 07:49
TAC goes from 12,000 to10,000 tonnes – Reduction to herring quota will impact Maritimes, Quebec
The quota for major parts of the herring fishery in the Maritimes and Quebec is being reduced in an effort to increase the stock. The total allowable catch for herring in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence fishing zone, which includes parts of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and all of Prince Edward Island, is being cut from 12,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes. The fall herring stock in the area remains in the “cautious zone,” according to a statement released Friday by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “The number of spawning adults is declining, and recruitment is at the lowest level ever observed,” DFO said. >click to read< 10:17
P.E.I.’s fall lobster fishery coping with low prices and high costs
One week after the fall lobster season opened on Prince Edward Island, some fishers are worried. Prices are at least $2 to $3 less a pound than they were just a few months ago, in some cases as low as half of what they were in the spring lobster fishery. “The most common price in the last few days is in the $4.75 to $5 range,” said Charlie McGeoghegan, who chairs the Lobster P.E.I. board. McGeoghegan said the problem of low lobster prices is compounded by the high cost of putting a boat in the water these days. “The price of fuel hasn’t gone down much,,, Jerry Gavin, executive director of the P.E.I. Seafood Processors Association, says there’s still a lot of lobster meat in storage from the spring fishery. “There’s a lot of meat in inventory and that certainly wasn’t the case last year, so yes, it’s going to be a tougher fall for fishers. >click to read< 13:48
Lennox Island treaty fishers join P.E.I.’s fall lobster fishery for 1st time
For the first time, and possibly the last time, treaty fishers from Lennox Island First Nation are taking part in Prince Edward Island’s fall lobster fishery. Crews in two boats began setting out the first 400 treaty traps Thursday morning from the wharf at Borden on the Island’s south shore. “There are some fishermen there who we spoke to and who are opening their arms and welcoming us there. So we’re really appreciative of that,” said Lennox Island Chief Darlene Bernard. In the future, Bernard said Lennox Island intends to fish all of its 1,000 treaty traps during the spring season – when boats can operate out of their own wharf. >click to read< 08:30
UPDATED – P.E.I. – Fall lobster season delayed by weather; Thursday opener confirmed.
The opening of P.E.I.’s fall lobster season has been delayed, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The season was scheduled to open in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 25 on Aug. 9 and close on Oct. 10, but DFO officials say the season won’t open until weather conditions improve. When opening is delayed, the season closes a day late up to a maximum of four days. In a Facebook post to members, the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association said the opening will be delayed until at least Aug.11. >click to read< 18:08
P.E.I.’s fall lobster fishery to open Thursday – P.E.I.’s fall lobster season will open at 6 a.m. Thursday, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has confirmed. >click to read< 17:27
Regulations coming to Atlantic Canada could ensure safety of endangered right whales
Last month, Sierra Club Canada held a web discussion where it talked about the endangered North Atlantic right whale population in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and how new changes coming to the fishing industry could help protect them. DFO has been working to develop rope systems that are designed to release if too much force is applied suddenly. Currently, there are no regulations for fisherman to use low-bearing gear. Jenn Michael Lewis, who helps catch lobster in St. Peters Bay, said the response from fishermen in the community about the new rope regulations will likely be a negative one. “It has been a point of tension. There isn’t many right near St Peters Bay, many fishermen don’t see the point in switching,” Lewis said. >click to read< 08:10
DFO investigation into snow crab catch irregularities in P.E.I. leads to court sentences
A Fisheries and Oceans Canada investigation into snow crab catch irregularities at the Souris wharf during the 2019 and 2020 seasons has concluded with several fishermen and two dockside observers being convicted and sentenced in P.E.I. provincial court in Georgetown. On July 28, Judge Nancy Orr dealt with the final matter before the court and found fishermen Leo Dorgan, 32, guilty of five charges under the Federal Fisheries Act for failing to hail-in, or report, as accurately as possible the weight of snow crab on board his fishing vessel the Black Diamond II. Dorgan pleaded not guilty and had a trial on July 21-22. He was fined a total of $11,000. >click to read< 12:27
PEI halibut season half over
According to Danny Arsenault, who co-chairs the PEI Ground Fish Advisory Board, catches in 4T5 and 4T7H (an area off the west coast previously closed) show promise this year. Ten boats fished the area during the July opening and got their quota. The partial opening of the area is allowed by DFO to see if there can be a viable halibut fishery in the area without influencing the cod stocks. Quota for halibut, an Atlantic flat fish that can grow up to 400 lbs, has been doled out a little differently for the past several years for PEI license holders, explained Mr Arsenault. >click to read< 11:02
Islanders pitch in after P.E.I. ferry fire, offer up homes to stranded passengers
Ferry crossings between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will be cancelled again Monday as officials grapple with the aftermath of a fire aboard the MV Holiday Island. The fourth day of cancellations during a period of peak demand comes as a blow to the region’s tourism industry as it continues to recover from pandemic shutdowns. Yet it also shines a light on the ability for Maritimers to come together in difficult times, with even the chief executive of the ferry company opening his door to stranded passengers. Prince Edward Islanders rallied together over the weekend to help passengers left stranded,,, >click to read< 09:23
P.E.I.-N.S. ferry cancelled for a 2nd day after fire aboard ship forced evacuation Friday
Ferry trips on the route connecting Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have been cancelled for a second day after a fire on Friday forced an emergency evacuation of a vessel’s passengers. More than 200 people were safely evacuated from MV Holiday Island after a fire broke out in the vessel’s engine room at around 11 a.m. Cormier said there were no injuries to passengers or crew. Myles MacDonald, an auxiliary Coast Guard member who also fishes crab and scallops out of Wood Islands, rushed to the scene in his boat when he heard the ferry had caught fire. He pulled up alongside the Holiday Island as passengers hopped down an evacuation chute into a rubber dinghy. From there, they climbed onto his fishing boat. photos, >click to read< 08:27
P.E.I. snow crab fishers fined for underreporting catch
Judge Nancy Orr expressed frustration at the low fines set out in the sentencing guidelines for this type of charge, saying the fines aren’t much of a disincentive if someone ends up being able to sell 20,000 pounds of snow crab that didn’t get reported as counting toward their quota. She made the remarks in relation to the sentencing of James Gavin. Court heard Gavin had an extensive record, with convictions dating back to 1995. Gavin was fined $2,500. The cases in Georgetown court Thursday followed a Department of Fisheries and Oceans investigation in Souris dating back to 2019 and 2020. It was called Operation Gannet. Both fishers and dockside monitors ended up being charged. >click to read< 08:57
