DFO Reminds Public it is Illegal to Disturb Marine Mammals
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently received a video of a young harp seal resting on a harbour slipway.
It wants the public to know that lying about and resting is perfectly normal behaviour for seals and not uncommon to see this time of year. Sometimes people mistake this behaviour to mean that the animal is in distress or dying.
It is important to remember that in any circumstance it is illegal to disturb a marine animal. Unless you are participating in a legal fishery or ...
N.L. Premier Releases Ministerial Mandate Letters
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball has publicly released the departmental mandate letters, which ministers received after being sworn in.
This follows the same practice that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau undertook with his federal cabinet ministers.
In the letters, Ball outlined his government’s priorities and gives ministers direction for each department.
“We have important work ahead that will require exceptional leadership from our Cabinet as we take on the difficult ...
Crocker New N.L. Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister
Newfoundland and Labrador has a new minister of fisheries and aquaculture.
Steve Crocker was sworn in this morning as part of Dwight Ball’s Liberal cabinet.
Crocker is the MHA for the new rural district of Carbonear – Trinity – Bay de Verde.
He won the Liberal nomination by defeating defeated Sam Slade, the former MHA for Carbonear - Harbour Grace.
The newly formed district was proposed by the The Newfoundland and Labrador Electoral Boundaries Commission after it was tasked ...
P.E.I. Government Gives Lobster Levy the Green Light
CBC is reporting that the Prince Edward Island cabinet has approved new regulations that will see a one-cent-per-pound lobster levy collected from buyers next spring.
P.E.I. Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Alan McIsaac said this is the final step for the province, since the regulations for a one-cent-per-pound levy for lobster fishermen were passed in the summer.
P.E.I. will be the first province in Atlantic Canada to have the levy, which will be used to help market and promote local ...
Coast Guard Closes Seasonal Search and Rescue Stations for the Winter
The Canadian Coast Guard Atlantic Region seasonal search and rescue stations in Lark Harbour and Port aux Choix, Newfoundland and Labrador will close on December 9, 2015, with stations in Souris and Summerside, Prince Edward Island and Shippagan, New Brunswick closing on December 23.
The vessels from the seasonal search and rescue stations cannot operate in the ice-covered waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The seasonal stations will resume operations in April.
The Canadian Coast ...
Best of Sea Winners Announced
Prince Edward Island’s high quality seafood has helped to inspire some of the Island’s top chefs to create culinary works of art during the inaugural Best of Sea promotion, says Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Alan McIsaac.
“Many of Prince Edward Island’s seafood products are at their peak of quality this time of year so it is a great time for a fresh new promotion that highlights our Island seafood industry and the amazing talents of our local Island chefs,” said Minister ...
Quality and Price
Quality is a topic I have discussed many times in this column.
Specifically, I have talked about consumers’ expectations of quality, the fact that we don’t meet those expectations consistently and the additional fact that many harvesters don’t do what is needed to provide good quality raw materials to plants.
Last month, I suggested that, in failing to provide good quality raw materials, harvesters were simply responding to the price signals sent by processors, most of whom are ...
Salmon Byproducts: A Prospective Source of Nutraceuticals
Fisheries and aquaculture play a vital role in Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy.
However, have you ever wondered what happens with the waste from this industry and how it might be beneficial to our health?
The team at the Fisheries and Marine Institute’s (MI) Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development (CASD) have recently undertaken some work to explore the topic.
When it comes to processing salmon, significant amounts of skin, frame and trimmings (gut, fins and tail) are ...
Cod Stock Report Not Telling Full Biomass Tale
The graph shown here indicates the level of the cod spawning biomass at 1,600,000 metric tonnes in 1962.
Official proceedings of the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) annual meeting in the mid-1950s showed the scientific council of ICNAF recorded the estimated biomass to be 2,000,000 metric tonnes.
I bring this to your attention in the wake of the recent report of the one-month long survey trip of the Irish research vessel chartered by the present ...
Nova Scotia Rolls Out Stricter Aquaculture Regulations
Fish farms, especially the massive open-pen salmon feedlot operations off both the Atlantic and Pacific coast of this country have been in the public eye during the past decade or so and for all the wrong reasons.
Massive fish die-offs, lice infestations, the use of prohibited chemicals and contamination of the environment around these sites have more or less been ignored by this government or that — especially the federal government whose mandate is to ensure sustainable recreational and ...
