Fishing Safety: Much Work to be Done
The winter season is nearly upon us.
While some fishermen are hauling up their boats, storing gear and evaluating the season that was, many harvesters are just getting started.
In just a few weeks, more than 1,600 harvesters in lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33-34 will be hitting the water to prosecute one of the largest and most lucrative lobster fisheries on the planet. The countdown to dumping day 2018 is on.
The planning and preparation for this multi-million-dollar fishery is ...
The Twine Loft – December 2018
Passed On: Loraine Williams – Port Mouton, N.S. DFO engineer
Williams, 90, passed away on October 9 at the Valley Regional Hospital, Kentville. Born in South West Port Mouton, Queens County, he was a son of the late Kenneth and Alberta (Daury) Williams. He was an engineer for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for 30 years. Prior to his career with DFO, Loraine fished for Swim Brothers out of Lockeport.
Passed On: Anita Frausel – Port Mouton, N.S. fish plant worker
Frausel, 85, ...
On the Waterfront – December 2018
Fire Destroys St. Mary’s Bay Fish Plant
Another Newfoundland fish plant has been lost to fire.
The Hickey & Sons Fisheries Ltd. fish plant in St. Mary’s Bay was destroyed by an October 26 massive blaze.
The plant was a total write-off.
Between 80 and 100 people work at the plant. It processed lobster, mussels, groundfish, whelk, scallops and pelagic fish, like capelin.
Hickey & Sons Fisheries co-owner Craig Hickey told CBC the plant was insured and that the company ...
Global Whitefish Supply Will Continue to Decline in 2019
At October’s Groundfish Forum, there were no unexpected developments in global groundfish stocks.
On a year-to-year basis, it was very much business as usual.
But if you look at a three-year picture, from 2017 to 2019, total global wild whitefish production has dropped four per cent, with cod down 13.4 per cent over the past three years.
This change in the supply picture has had price impacts in several areas.
First, international cod prices (Barents Sea) have climbed 21 per cent ...
Why Do We Process Fish?
A couple of months ago, I asked the question, “how should we define success in the fishery in Atlantic Canada?”
I went on to suggest we need to reconsider what it takes to be successful, because what we have been doing hasn’t been working.
Last month, I continued with that overall theme by asking the related question, “why do we fish?” This month, I will go to the next step in the value chain and ask, “why do we process fish?”
When your day job is catching fish, it is ...
Opposition Mounting to Proposed N.S. Seismic Programs
The wheels have been set in motion for a proposed 10-year seismic project that covers basically the entire Scotian Shelf and the Scotian Slope.
The plan involves an area extending from approximately 40 km from the southern coastline of Nova Scotia to 350 km offshore.
The draft project description was filed with the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NSOPB) by Multiklient Invest AS (MKI), Oslo, Norway and TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA (TGS), Houston, Texas, as the first ...
Uncertain Outlook for 3Ps Cod Stock
FFAW Demands All Dragging be Halted in the Area
Above: DFO research scientist, Karen Dwyer presents a technical session outlining the level of the groundfish stock off Newfoundland’s south coast.
After several years of cautious optimism, the overall fate of Newfoundland and Labrador’s beleaguered groundfish stocks remain uncertain.
Earlier this year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) announced that the 2018 2J3KL stewardship fishery management approach ...
Atlantic Fisheries Fund Rolls Out $30 Million in First Year
More than 100 applications have been approved for Atlantic Fisheries Fund (AFF) money, totalling more than $30 million in the first year since the $400-million program was launched by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Atlantic provinces in 2017.
Testing ropeless fishing gear, greenstick technology trolling equipment in the pelagic long-line fleet and innovation in the processing and aquaculture sectors were among the projects earmarked to receive approximately $573,000 in funding. This ...
Survivor Extreme – Part V
After surviving a brutal trek over a mountain through snow and ice, a partially frozen river and ice-covered rocks in bare feet, Dave Barnes eventually made it to the relative comfort of a small cabin located on Ten-Mile Bay, south of Nain, Labrador. For a while, it seemed the remainder of his journey home would be in relative comfort compared to what he suffered in the previous nine hours. But comfort would prove to be elusive. This is Part V of “Survivor Extreme”
The cabin on Ten Mile ...
Panel Recommending Bottom Trawling be Prohibited in MPAs
Bottom trawling should be on the list of prohibited industrial activities in marine protected areas (MPAs), says the National Advisory Panel on Marine Protected Area Standards in its final report and recommendations to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
The seven-member panel, established last spring, makes 13 recommendations to the minister that focus on minimum protection standards in federal marine protected areas, including Oceans Act marine protected areas ...
