Flipping an Industry
Above photo: Island Aquatech founders Dylan MacIsaac, Brett McDermott and Jordan Sampson with their oyster cage flipper prototype. The three University of Prince Edward Island students are hoping to turn a second-year engineering project into a viable commercial business. Submitted photos
UPEI Students Launching Aquaculture Tech Company Based on School Project
In 2016, three second-year engineering students at the University of Prince Edward Island were assigned to meet with a local ...
Concern Replacing Optimism in LFA 25
Fall P.E.I. Lobster Fishermen Face Disappointing Lull in Price Per Pound
There was a great deal of optimism this year as Prince Edward Island lobster fishermen with fall licences started gearing up for their season — but it didn’t last.
There are about 254 boats from P.E.I. who participate in the Northumberland Strait lobster fishery in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 25. The season runs this year from Aug. 8 to about Oct. 8.
By any leap of logic, the captains had good reason to have a ...
Filming Giants
P.E.I. Documentary Bluefin Examines History and Plight of Province’s Famous Giant Tuna
All his life John Hopkins had wanted to catch a bluefin tuna.
Growing to massive sizes, well in excess of 1,000 pounds and incredibly strong swimmers, bluefin are revered all over the world.
“Every fisherman’s dream is to catch a giant bluefin. It’s one of the most powerful fish in the sea,” remarked Hopkins.
But that was then.
If you asked him that same question today — the answer ...
Seaweed Dreams
P.E.I. Man Celebrating a Decade Since He Sold His Dairy Quota For Kelp
“This is it. This is our finished product.” As he spoke, Joe Dorgan plunged his hefty, calloused hand into the container in front of him, emerging with a small mound of finely crushed, dark plant material.
It was dried seaweed, a mixture of rock weed, Irish moss, kelp and furcellaria, all collected from beaches across Prince Edward Island and crushed at Dorgan’s facility in Sea Cow Pond, near the western tip of the ...
Boat Backlog
Wait for New Fibreglass Fishing Vessels up to Five Years on P.E.I.
If you’re a fish harvester on P.E.I. and are just starting to think about investing in a new boat — you might be in for a few delays.
A glut of orders for new fishing vessels continues in the province, with no end in sight.
If a captain were to walk in to Colleen Avery’s office at Doucette’s Boat Building in Miminegash, P.E.I. today and was willing to put down a deposit, she’d tell them that they could be ...
Back on the Water: Signs Point to Good Spring Season for P.E.I. Lobster Harvesters
April 26, 2017 dawned on Prince Edward Island with a roar of engines as more than 1,000 boats sailed from their home ports to the, hopefully, fertile lobster grounds around the province.
The weather was ideal, a far cry improvement from some setting days in recent years, when obstacles like harbours choked with ice and dangerously high winds have made major problems for harvesters.
But there was nary a sniff of bad tidings this year as the fleet set sail for Lobster Fishing Areas (LFA) 24 ...
Changing Course
P.E.I. Lobster Harvester Sells License to Follow Dream of Opening Craft Brewery
What’s that old business saying?
“Location, location, location.”
We’ll, nobody bothered to share that gem of wisdom with fishermen-turned-brewmaster Eric Wagner. And you know what? It probably wouldn’t have made much difference anyway — turns out if you sell a good beer, people will go out of their way to find you.
Wagner spent 32 years as a fisherman, sailing out of western Prince Edward ...
Back in Play: P.E.I. First Nation Restarting Province’s Only Shellfish Hatchery
Walking into the Bideford Marine Centre feels a bit like visiting some mad scientist’s laboratory out of a movie.
All around are vats of varying sizes filled with water bubbling violently, each coloured in various shades of green, yellow and red and all glowing brightly, lit from behind with purple light.
But, thankfully, the only person around the lab on this particular visit is far from mad — or he at least hides it very well.
That’s Steven Palmer.
On this particular day, ...
Significant Change to Temporary Foreign Worker Legislation
Above photo: Egmont MP Bobby Morrissey poses with a group of temporary foreign workers following a meeting in which they told him about many of the challenges they face.
Worker Advocates and Fishing Industry on P.E.I. Applaud End of Four-in, Four-out Restriction
In 2013, a group of Filipino women working on Prince Edward Island as part of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program wrote a letter to then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander.
The women were rapidly ...
Short Notice
P.E.I. Fishermen Left Scrambling for Next Year's Lobster Bait After Sudden Closure of Mackerel Fishery
It’s a small fish that’s caused a disproportionately big ruckus in the Atlantic Canadian fishing industry.
The humble mackerel, long sought after in Atlantic waters as both a food fish and inexpensive bait for far more valuable species like lobster, has recently been the subject of unanswered questions regarding the abrupt ending of its commercial fishing season.
The Department of ...
