Tag Archives: right whale closures
Parading in protest – Lobstermen call for abolishment of closures
About 40 lobster boats participated Wednesday in the boat parade protesting Massachusetts’ current closure of virtually all of its state waters to commercial lobstering as a protection for the North Atlantic right whales. The boats, which primarily hailed from Gloucester, Manchester and Rockport, staged around Ten Pound Island in the late afternoon and then headed in single file toward the head of the harbor. Nancy MacDowell of Rockport was at the state fish pier to support her lobstering family in its effort to bring awareness to the closure and the negative impact its is having on those who lobster in state waters. photos, >click to read< 09:05
Cape Breton snow crab fishery escapes impact of right whale closures, Different story in New Brunswick
While a right whale sighting earlier this month triggered a closure to the snow crab fishery in western Cape Breton, the closure had virtually no impact. But unlike closures in other parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, these shutdowns had virtually no impact on the area’s lucrative fishery. “That’s something we’re discussing. Are we lucky or are we just in that sweet spot?” said Basil MacLean, a Cape Breton snow crab fisherman and president of the Area 19 Snow Crab Fishermen’s Association. In New Brunswick, where the boats and quotas are larger, it’s been a different story in 2020. “24 out of 45 members from the Acadian Crabbers Association each left significant amounts of crab in the water this spring,” >click to read< 19:15
LeBlanc offers fall season to fishermen squeezed by right whale measures
The federal fisheries minister says he has offered lobster harvesters from New Brunswick and Quebec a previously unscheduled fall fishing season, to make up for measures aimed at protecting endangered right whales. Dominic LeBlanc said he told the Maritime Fishermen’s Union that he plans to open a harvesting zone in the last half of September because of the 15-day closure of a 1,400-square-kilometre portion of ocean that begins Sunday. LeBlanc said the offer will go to about 62 fishing vessels in New Brunswick and 60 from the Gaspe Peninsula whose lobster harvest will be largely shut down as the whales pass through. >click to read<18:45
