Georges Bank 2023 Haddock Quota Cut
The Eastern Georges Bank haddock quota has been cut by more than two-thirds in 2023, with a 2,320-tonne TAC (total allowable catch) set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), compared to 7,473 tonnes in 2022.
It’s the lowest the TAC has been in the last 10 years, dropping from a high of 24,400 metric tonnes in 2018. In 2019, the TAC was reduced to 15,000 tonnes, in 2020, 13,800 tonnes and in 2021, 7,614 tonnes.
“Spawning stock biomass (SSB) for EGB (Eastern Georges Bank) haddock has ...
Georges Bank Moratorium Up for Renewal
With the Georges Bank moratorium set to expire on Dec. 31, 2022, a review process that examines the environmental and socio-economic impacts of exploration and drilling activities in the region will soon get underway as required by joint federal provincial legislation.
Under moratorium since 1988 to all oil and gas exploration and drilling activity, the federal Minister of Natural Resources and the Nova Scotia Minister of Energy and Mines may extend the moratorium in increments of up to 10 ...
Quota Cuts Coming for Georges Bank Groundfish
It looks like quota cuts are on the horizon for the Georges Bank groundfish fishery.
Recent recommendations from the Canada/U.S. Georges Bank Transboundary Management Guidance Committee (TMGC) include a 25 per cent cut in haddock quotas, a 32 per cent cut for cod quotas and a 53 per cent cut in yellowtail flounder quotas for 2019.
Co-chair of the Committee, Alain d’Entremont, Scotia Harvest Inc., said the 2019 overall recommendation for cod is 650 metric tonnes (a reduction from 950 ...
Southern N.S. Groundfish Stocks Healthy, Except Cod and Cusk
While the lobster fishery is king, the groundfish fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia is nothing to sneeze at.
This fishery is worth more than $55 million in landed value for 2016/17 for fishing areas 4VXW and Georges Bank and has solid stock statuses for primary target species such as halibut, haddock, silver hake, winter flounder and redfish.
“Halibut is the one that’s just going up and up and up,” said federal fisheries survey biologist Donald Clark in an interview.
“I ...
No Definite Answer to Fish Kill Question
No Definite Answer to Fish Kill Question
Society expects science — medical and physical — to solve all problems and when it doesn’t, questions abound on what use science is if it cannot attend to all pressing needs.
Fish kills aren’t unknown is in this vast country — a lot of them in fresh water systems, caused by runoffs of this or that chemical from industrial sources.
On the briny side of the coin, it isn’t uncommon each summer to see dead whales or dolphins wash up on our ...
Clean Ocean Group Wants Municipalities to Oppose Exploration in Key Fishing Areas
Municipal councillors in many Nova Scotia coastal communities are facing financial difficulties due to the lack of economic diversification and an aging population.
Now local governments are being asked to pressure both the federal and provincial government to permanently remove Sites 3 and 4 from any future Canada Nova Scotia Petroleum Board (C-NSOPB) oil and gas exploratory lease site auctions.
The demand is being made by the Clean Ocean Action Committee (COAC), an amalgam of harvester ...
Action Committee Hopes Liberals Stick to Commitment on Environmental Assessments
In a region which has been labelled as ‘have not’ for so many years, the thought of any project that will create jobs for any extended period of time is music in the ears of politicians, as well as their constituents.
The problem with this scenario is Atlantic provincial governments did not practice due diligence on mega projects which promised much and produced very little.
Thus we have major failures in the four Atlantic provinces in the field of attracting companies which last the ...
Mega Projects May Not Be the Only Way to Go
Pictured above: Location of Ann's Bank off Cape Breton
Every coastal community in Atlantic Canada has seen the brain and brawn drain of our younger generation in the past decade or so, brought on by the lack of economic opportunities down here compared to the streets of gold in the Alberta oil patch.
How things have changed.
We now have an exodus of our young people returning to the fatherland due to the collapse of the oil and gas industry — due in large part to the actions of ...
Concerns Continue to Be Raised Over N.S. Oil Industry Expansion
During the fall, a delegation from Norway visited Newfoundland to expound the virtues of longlining over other fishing methods, in producing a higher quality product.
They have been practicing this principle for decades and the proof is in the fact that Norwegian and Icelandic cod has a well-earned reputation as being the best quality in the world.
It is rather ironic that in November, the Canada-Nova Scotia Petroleum Board approved the sale of two properties, almost abutting the Canadian ...
Georges, Browns Banks Could be Threatened by New Offshore Leases
The battle to keep offshore oil and gas interests off Georges Bank was long and hard and prosecuted both here and in New England.
At stake was the continued existence of one of the richest fishing grounds on the planet with a unique ecosystem which feeds sea life, plants and animals.
In this neck of the woods, you had fishermen, aboriginal groups and environmentalists in a coalition against those that would turn this part of Nova Scotia into Alberta East.
Those people are still around ...
