Above: A fish tub filled with scallops rests on the deck of a charter boat following a recreational dive in Nova Scotia. DFO recently gave a green light to allow a recreational scallop dive off P.E.I.
P.E.I. Launches First Recreational Scallop Fishery
Recreational divers on Prince Edward Island now have another reason to celebrate their hobby —and it’s delicious.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently approved the creation of a recreational scallop fishery, a first for the province.
Kelly Campbell, of Vernon River, worked with a core group of local dive enthusiasts to lobby the federal and provincial government on this issue — a process that took two years to play out.
“We did a lot of work to get this fishery open,” said Campbell.
Originally from Alberta, Campbell took a scuba diving course while living in Halifax several years ago and was immediately hooked.
Eventually, he and his friends started noticing some healthy scallop beds on many of their dives. When they found out Nova Scotia had a recreational scallop harvesting permit available, they jumped at the chance.
After Campbell moved to P.E.I., he discovered the province had no framework for a similar recreational fishery.
In fact, he would often take the Wood Islands, P.E.I. to Caribou, N.S. Ferry across the Northumberland Strait, only to hop back in a boat and head back out towards P.E.I. to dive for the shellfish in Nova Scotia waters.
Then in January of 2015, Campbell and several other P.E.I. recreational divers made a presentation to DFO and the provincial recreational fishing advisory council pitching the idea of allowing recreational harvesters here. However, it wasn’t until April 2016, following another exhaustive series of meetings, that DFO finally gave its blessing to a recreational scallop fishery in P.E.I.
However, divers have not been given free reign.
DFO has imposed a series of restrictions on the recreational scallop license designed to minimize the risk to both divers and the health of the species.
The conditions are reasonable in the opinion of his diving compatriots, said Campbell and he doesn’t foresee a problem following them.
The season will officially run from May 1 to October 31, however, Campbell said it’s unlikely many divers will harvest outside of July, August and maybe early September so as to not interfere with the lobster fishery.
In terms of depth, the divers will be self-limiting themselves. Whereas commercial scallop draggers can operate in deeper waters in excess of 100 feet, Campbell’s group intends to stay in shallower water, in the 60-foot range, to minimize danger and maximize how long they can stay on the seafloor.
“From a diving standpoint it doesn’t make sense for us to go out there,” he said.
There is a shallow buffer zone in the Northumberland Strait that is off limits to draggers anyway because that depth is considered important for lobster breeding and retention.
That exclusion zone means there are some nice scallop beds that are largely untouched, said Campbell.
Divers are also limited to taking shellfish no smaller than four inches, to allow them time to reproduce before being harvested.
But as excited as the divers are at the prospect of getting a feed of scallops, there are those in the Island’s commercial fishery who are not as keen to see the issuing of recreational licences.
Some fishermen have opposed the divers’ plan, citing concerns ranging from worry about how many people might apply for a recreational licence to boats having to worry about running into divers. There were also concerns that a recreational fishery for one species could lead to more for others, especially the lucrative Atlantic lobster.
Campbell is aware of those concerns and he and his fellow divers have done their best to mitigate them, he said.
For example, it takes him on average between two and three dives to reach his daily catch limit of 100 scallops, which is essentially a whole day’s worth of diving. So given the amount of effort put into the harvest, it’s unlikely that hundreds of people will rush out and grab scallop licences, he said.
As a recreational fishery, divers are also forbidden from selling, trading or even giving away the scallops they harvest — so from a practical sense there is limited motivation for the average person to get a licence.
“We’re not a threat to their fishery,” he said.
“We’re going to be following the rules and ensuring this is a sustainable fishery.
Campbell also believes there may be a niche market if the fishery was developed as diving destination activity, he added, it could bring some economic benefit to the community.
“I don’t think people are going to be rushing to P.E.I. in droves to dive for scallops, but… it’s just another activity that we had looked at to help grow the dive community,” he said.
“It’s a positive thing and we’re not going to go out doing scallops every single weekend, but if we can go out two or three times a year it’s just something nice to do.”
Campbell expects his group will start hauling up their first P.E.I.-landed scallops in July and will spend many of their dives throughout the summer scouting and taking notes on the health of the species around the province.
