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 ...
Hurricane Season 2023: “It Only Takes One Storm to Make It a Bad Year”
Above: Lonnie Snow photo
While the 2023 hurricane season is predicted to be an overall average one, the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC) warns that Atlantic Canada only needs one large storm to see a repeat of the catastrophic 2022 Hurricane Fiona.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted there will be a 70 per cent chance that the Atlantic Ocean will see between 14 to 21 named storms, of which six to 11 could become hurricanes. Of those ...
Climate Change: What DFO is Seeing in Atlantic Canada Waters
Above: Lonnie Snow photo
“Waters in Atlantic Canada have seen varying degrees of warming over the past 10 years,” says Kathryn Hallett, Fisheries and Oceans Canada media relations.
Hallett said there is an important distinction between sea surface temperatures (SSTs) that are highly influenced by air temperature, and temperatures at depth. “The warming trend observed in air temperature since the 1870s of about 1°C per century is expected to have occurred in ...
Too Many Seals – Canada’s Pinniped Population Problem
Above: Photo Credit: Canadian Seal Products
Seals in Atlantic Canada eat a lot of fish every day and there is a great deal of them, coming in at nearly 12 million animals.
Their voracious appetite, according to experts, is damaging both the commercial fishery and fish stocks.
Bob Hardy has spent a good portion of his life dealing with seals in one way or another. Growing up in Battle Harbour, Labrador, Hardy spent some time taking part in the inshore cod and salmon fisheries. ...
Use of Propeller Clams as Lobster Bait Growing in Atlantic Canada
With rising prices and issues with sustainability in the shellfish bait market, alternative bait is on the minds of many and propeller clams may present an effective solution to fish harvesters’ bait-based woes.
Right now, propeller clams are a popular food item in Asia, which is where Nova Scotia-based Clearwater Seafoods sells most of its product. Given the issues Atlantic Canada is having with bait right now, the people at Clearwater saw an opportunity to expand the propeller clam ...
Fiona Slams Harbour Infrastructure Across Atlantic Canada
Above photo: Left: Members of the Canadian Armed Forces respond to Newfoundland and Labrador's request for assistance with relief efforts during Operation LENTUS, in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona that took place on September 24, 2022. Photo courtesy of Department of National Defence.
In the wake of post-tropical storm Fiona, the Small Craft Harbours (SCH) program is reporting damage to 133 out of 180 harbours in Atlantic Canada and Eastern Québec.
According to the ...
The Greying of the Fleet
Rodney Dangerfield once said “It’s great to have grey hair. Ask anyone who’s bald.”
And one does not have to visit too many commercial fishing wharves and harbours across Atlantic Canada to see plenty of examples of that grey hair peeking out from under ball caps.
According to the federal government, for the first time in Canada’s history, there are now more individuals over the age of 65 than there are children under the age of 15.
In Atlantic Canada, more than one in three ...
What’s the Problem with Pelagics?
What is going on with the once plentiful and lucrative pelagics fisheries in Atlantic Canada?
Fishermen is this region of the Northwest Atlantic have been harvesting herring, mackerel, capelin and squid, for both food and all-important bait, for centuries. In fact, the multi-billion-dollar lobster and snow crab fisheries would never have developed into the monster industries they are today without the use of lowly pelagics as bait.
Even today, as many companies are foraging and research...
The Challenges of Making Ends Meet
The late English comedian Les Dawson once said, “The way prices are rising, the good old days are last week.”
It appears Atlantic Canadians’ fixation of talking about weather fluctuations has been overshadowed of late by tales of price fluctuations — fluctuations unfortunately headed in the wrong direction.
The price of practically everything has gone up and the fishing industry is no exception. Just ask any lobster fishermen in the region.
During the summer of 2020, fishermen ...
Cooke Aquaculture Proceeding with Capital Investment Plans in Atlantic Canada
Cooke Aquaculture is moving ahead with multi-million-dollar capital investment plans in three of the four provinces in Atlantic Canada.
In St. George, N.B., Cooke is doing a major salmon processing plant expansion to increase fresh and frozen value-added product output to serve retail markets, said Claire Ryan, director of public relations for Cooke.
“Cooke is also constructing a large land-based freshwater hatchery at Johnson Lake in Pennfield, N.B., and engineering and permitting is ...
