U.S. Company Providing Ropeless Gear Options for Fishermen
Above: Puget Buoy CEO Dylan Diefendorf (left) and COO Evan Kim showcasing a Puget Buoy product.
photos submitted by Dylan Diefendorf
Seattle-based Puget Buoy is trying to bring cost-effective, fast, durable and compact ropeless fishing tech to the commercial fishery.
As one of many different sorts of ropeless fishing gear appearing on the market, Puget Buoy’s goals align with their contemporaries — in the age of fisheries closures due to whale safety, ropeless technologies ...
Switching to Whale-Safe Gear is a Heavy Subject for the N.L. Snow Crab Fishery
To protect critically endangered whales from threats posed by entanglement, the Government of Canada is expected to mandate the use of whale-safe gear in Canadian fixed gear fisheries by 2024.
Whale-safe gear involves incorporating weak elements in the design of standard fishing gear which will break with a specified amount of force, lower than the ropes currently in use. While whale-safe gear may protect whales and avoid fishing area closures, as well as shortened or modified fishing ...
2023 Right Whale Regulations Released
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has released its 2023 fisheries regulations to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale from entanglements in gear.
The hotspots for closure protocols are the Bay of Fundy, the Roseway and Grand Manan Basins and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In these zones, any right whale that is detected — whether acoustically or visually — will result in a 15-day closure for all non-tended fixed gear within 2,000 square kilometres of the detection.
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Elver Fishery Shutdown Devastating for Licence Holders
Citing conservation and safety concerns, the elver fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick was shut down by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) this spring, leaving licence holders with empty nets and unanswered questions.
By way of a Fisheries Management Order, the elver fishery was closed on April 15 by DFO for 45 days, ending the season.
“All elver harvesting is now prohibited and subject to enforcement action. DFO will continue to work closely with the RCMP and local police to ...
Challenging Season Winding Down in LFA 33/34
Above: The Ryer Lake II and the Sonia Dianne steam into the Falls Point wharf in Woods Harbour after a day on the lobster fishing grounds in LFA 34. Kathy Johnson photos
With a month to go before the traps come ashore, low landings were still being reported in lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33 and 34.
“There’s nothing to write home about this season,” says Tommy Amirault, president of the Coldwater Lobster Association. “It’s been a tough go this spring.”
Going into ...
Snow Crab Stalemate – Price Dispute Shuts Down Valuable N.L. Fishery
A price of $2.20 per pound for snow crab is not sitting well with Newfoundland and Labrador fish harvesters, with the majority showing a willingness to sit this crab season out if prices don’t change.
Harvesters are saying that fishing at $2.20 is unaffordable. This attitude towards the current economic climate was made abundantly clear at a recent rally held at the Confederation Building, Newfoundland’s seat of government, by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW).
The ...
From Fisheries Mismanagement to Oceans Management
Imagine if the future of the planet was being decided by a small group of bureaucrats and mining bosses in closed meetings in far-flung parts of the world.
Rather than looking at the overall impacts, these meetings only looked at things from one perspective — making sure that the mining companies could increase their takings — and ignoring other consequences, be they environmental, social or economic.
If that were the case, wouldn’t you think there would be an outcry, massive ...
Offshore Companies Get Leg-Up From DFO
In March, the news broke that DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) spent untold millions completing two weeks of science work for redfish on the Mersey Venture, a 200-foot factory freezer trawler owned by Mersey Seafoods and part of the offshore lobby group, the Atlantic Groundfish Council, headed by Bruce Chapman.
Go on, ‘by. Surely the Union’s not out complaining about the government doing more science work when that’s what they’re going on about half the time?
In an effort ...
On the Waterfront – June 2023
Record Prices for N.L. Lobster
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Standing Fish Price Setting Panel has come to the decision to side with the final price offer made by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) for lobster in 2023, with the season opening at $14.37 per pound.
The final offers by both the FFAW and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) were based on the “Average of Thursday-Tuesday” Urner Barry (UB) Index, which provides information on the price of live lobster in the ...
The Twine Loft – June 2023
Passed On: Roland LeBlanc — Saulnierville, N.S. fisherman and fisheries scientist
LeBlanc, 65, passed away in Yarmouth, N.S. on April 20, 2023. He was born in Saulnierville on December 3, 1957. In his early days, he worked on a trawler and as a lobster fisherman. In 1996, LeBlanc found his true calling when he was hired to be part of the development of an interactive program on the life cycle of Atlantic salmon at École Secondaire de Clare, Meteghan River. The school maintained a function...
