14 Bluefin Landed During 19th Annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival
Above: The Aqua-Haulic III idles into place at the Wedgeport Breakwater wharf for the weigh-in. Kathy Johnson photo
It was the year for bluefin tuna at the 19th annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival, with the highest recorded weight in the tournament’s history for the 14 fish landed.
“This year, the bluefin were by far the highest average weight per fish,” said Brandon Doucette, president of the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament Association. “We had four ...
A Piece of the Arctic Puzzle – Scientists Concerned About Fate of Northern Forage Fish
Above: Arctic Cod are small forage fish, about the size of capelin, that make up a crucial link in the food chain of the Arctic Ocean. Photos courtesy of Maxime Geoffroy, Marine Institute
Scientists have raised alarms that the population of Arctic cod, a small forage fish related to Atlantic cod, is being severely affected by changing climatic conditions.
A group of 43 scientists, headed by Memorial University of Newfoundland research scientist Maxime Geoffroy, has ...
The Squid Are Back and Researchers Are Still Figuring Out Why
Squid have made a recent resurgence in Atlantic Canadian waters in what appears to be a little-understood boom and bust cycle.
According to Krista Baker, a research scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the fluctuations in squid population have been well-noted for many years. She said that squid’s short lifespan of under a year, their highly migratory behaviour and their susceptibility to environmental factors seemed to have kept the population at low levels since the ...
Sylvie Lapointe Takes on New Role as AGC President
Above: Sylvie Lapointe
The Atlantic Groundfish Council (AGC) recently welcomed its new president, Sylvie Lapointe, who is settling into her new role of representing groundfish harvesters in Atlantic Canada.
Lapointe spent around 26 years working with the federal government, 20 of which were spent with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) where she mostly worked on international fisheries files to represent Canada in regional fisheries management organizations...
Grieg Seafood Set to Begin First Salmon Harvest in Marystown
Grieg Seafood Newfoundland has announced its intention to harvest 5,000 tonnes of farmed salmon from its Burin Peninsula aquaculture facilities this fall, which will be processed at the Quinlan Brothers fish plant in Bay de Verde.
The payoff for the Norwegian aquaculture firm, according to Grieg’s Director of Human Resources and Communications Perry Power, has been a long time coming.
According to Power, setting up a facility of the scale that they have, with recirculating aquaculture ...
“Hell Afloat in St. Anthony” – FFAW Filing Labour Grievances Against Plant Management
In response to allegations of worker mistreatment by management at the Royal Greenland fish plant in St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) has been rallying for fair treatment of the local plant workers.
“It’s Hell afloat in St. Anthony at the Royal Greenland plant,” said FFAW President Greg Pretty. “We went through a rough time with them two years ago with 15 grievances; had most of them heard; won most of them; established a couple ...
N.L. Shrimp Holding Steady, Despite Industry Downturn
According to the Labrador Fishermen’s Union Shrimp Company (LFUSC), the Newfoundland and Labrador shrimp season is holding steady, despite a recent downturn in catches.
The LFUSC, which operates five processing plants in coastal Labrador, is taking in as much Northern shrimp as it can, despite what LFUSC CEO Gilbert Linstead called a “slump” in the cooked and peeled shrimp industry.
The 2022–2023 season saw shrimp fishing area (SFA) 5 and 6 roll over from last year, with 14,200 ...
4VWX Herring Fishery TAC Set at 21,000 Tonnes
The total allowable catch (TAC) for the 4VWX herring fishery has been cut by 11 per cent this year to 21,000 metric tonnes, down 50 per cent from the 42,500-tonne quota in 2018.
With the Southwest Nova Scotia/Bay of Fundy Atlantic herring stock in the critical zone for the fifth year in a row, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has been decreasing the TAC to promote recovery, says Lauren Sankey, DFO communications advisor for the Maritimes Region.
“DFO reduced the TAC from ...
ASP, FFAW To Begin Negotiations Well Ahead of 2024 Season
More than six months prior to the start of the 2024 fishing season, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) will begin discussions around price formulas and quality on September 12, 2023.
This announcement comes on the heels of a tumultuous snow crab season in 2023, where price talks broke down in the form of protests, a six-week tie-up and a condensed season. According to Jeff Loder, the Executive Director of the ASP, the scheduled ...
The 1775 Hurricane: “A Most Terrible Gale of Wind”
“On the 12th of September, in the year 1775, this coast was visited by a most terrible gale of wind,” wrote Reverend Lewis Anspach in the History of the Island of Newfoundland, 1819.
It’s early September in 1775. Newfoundland’s waters, rich with the bounty of the sea, are teeming with fishermen from Ireland and England looking to reap the spoils of this abundance. Without much warning, the waters surge 30 feet and the winds begin to howl, casting the small fishing boats into the ...
