MI School Head to Lead International Association of Seafood Professionals
Representatives from the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University continue to lend their knowledge, expertise and experience to organizations around the world dedicated to ensuring the success of marine-related industries.
In September, Carey Bonnell, head of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University’s (MI) School of Fisheries, took on an international role as President of the International Association of Seafood Professionals (IAFI).
Bonnell officially ...
N.B. Fishermen Take on Challenges of Herring Fishery
Billy Francis says when he was offered the chance to take part in another fishery, he couldn’t say no.
But he adds it’s a fishery he knew little about and admits he has a lot to learn and is willing to give it a try.
The 40-year-old has been fishing lobster for two decades, working his way up from deckhand to captain.
After the Esgenoopetij First Nation in Northeastern New Brunswick signed a fishing agreement with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans a year after the fallout of ...
Creating Art from Wood
Building-supply store salespeople look at Alex Howse kind of odd sometimes.
They’re not sure what to think when he asks for the knottiest piece of pine board they have. But then, Alex is no ordinary lumber buyer.
The 70-year-old builds model boats and often needs small pieces of wood that posses a natural curvature and wood surrounding knots has that intrinsic feature. For larger curved pieces he does the same as many regular boat builders — he finds crooked trees to cut.
Those ...
Scotian Shelf Capping Device Needs to Come Home
The issue of drilling for fossil fuel off Nova Scotia is getting a bit blurred.
However, one thing is getting clearer by the day, an oil company’s plans to drill exploratory wells 250 kilometres offshore, on the Scotian Shelf is meeting stiff opposition, something obviously the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) overlooked when it approved the proposal in June.
The issue is not the actual drilling for oil and gas but the idea that when it comes to safety measures, the rules ...
Small Fry, Big Fish: P.E.I. 10-Year-Old Lands 480-Pound Bluefin Tuna
Little did 10-year-old Koen Norton know that when he set out on his father’s vessel he was going to come home with a monster.
But he’d certainly hoped.
Koen, from the Montague area of Prince Edward Island, recently made headlines all over the world when he obliterated a world record for largest bluefin tuna caught by someone in his age category. The records are kept by the International Game Fish Association.
Koen landed, by himself, a 486-pound bluefin off Naufrage Harbour. He was ...
Cod and Some Lessons from History
Several of my recent columns have focused on the increasing cod resource and how we can build a successful fishery based on it in the future.
This month, I will discuss the idea that, if we want to build a better future, we need to understand our past.
If you go the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization’s (NAFO) website, you can find a lot of historical data at http://www.nafo.int/data/frames/data.html. Currently, you can find reported catches for the period from 1960 to 2013, a ...
Another Successful Wedgeport Tuna Tournament
From 1935 to the mid 1960s, Wedgeport was once the sport tuna fishing capital of the world.
What attracted the bluefin tuna close to the shores of Wedgeport was the abundance of feed, making the Tusket River and the Tuna Rip excellent tuna fishing grounds.
Rod and reel tuna fishing began in 1935 when Michael Lerner, accompanied by his guide Tommy Gifford, were told there were plenty of tuna off Wedgeport. Many fishermen made fun of him but he managed to convince Évée LeBlanc to bring ...
Are Bluefins Spawning in the Sargasso Sea?
The Sargasso Sea has been the stuff of myth and mystery for years.
It is the only sea on earth without a coastline — located in the mid-Atlantic and forms part of the fabled Bermuda Triangle. And it’s huge, covering about two million square miles. It’s named after a type of seaweed, genus Sargassum.
The sea consists of a gyre created by the Gulf Stream to the west, the North American Current to the north, the Canary Current to the east and the North American Equatorial Current to ...
Better Management Only Hope For Future Fisheries
I recently listened to Fred Woodman, Jr., owner of an inshore fish plant in New Harbour, being interviewed on The Fisheries Broadcast, talking about cod before the moratorium and cod now and what to do with it.
While I didn’t know Fred Woodman, Jr., I certainly knew his father, Fred Woodman, Sr., who was owner of an inshore fish plant and was a member of the Newfoundland Inshore Fisheries Association, a group of concerned citizens who were trying to wake up the politicians as to what was ...
