Elderly Fishermen Treated Like Class B Citizens
Not many people can withstand the grueling conditions of lobster fishing.
Even less can imagine continuing to lobster fish well into the age of 80. However, this is the reality for a group of aging fishermen across the Maritimes, many of whom have deteriorating health and continue to work against the risks.
Their wish is to sell or transfer their licence and retire. A 50-year-old Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) policy prevents them from doing so.
These fishermen are the holders of ...
Optimistic Outlook for Upcoming Southwest Nova Lobster Fishery
Above Photo: Cape Sable Island lobster harvester Janaya Nickerson offloads crates from a truck. This will be Nickerson’s fourth lobster season aboard Every Last Cent, captained by her father Herbie. “I love it,” she said. “I used to go when I was a kid banding and decided to get into it because I really enjoy it. I have a passion for it.” Kathy Johnson photos
The countdown is on to the opening of the southwestern Nova Scotia lobster fishery on November 25, weather ...
What Do Lobsters Like to Eat?
St. FX Getting Down to the Biology of it
Above: St. FX students load prototype tripods onto a boat for testing during pilot work for the Bait Responses Project. Blaise MacMullen photo
St. FX University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia is taking a “step-by-step, building-from-the-bottom-up approach” when it comes to identifying alternative bait sources for the lobster fishery.
“The key right now is we’re not testing alternative baits yet. What we’re doing is building a scientific ...
2018: The Sharper the Blast, the Sooner it Will Pass?
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us: American author Hal Borland.
So good readers, were any lasting lessons learned in 2018 that will better the fishery of the future?
What events transpired over the last 12 months that could impact the way the commercial fishery evolves in the years and decades to come?
Perhaps the best analogy one could use to describe the fishing year that was is to compare it to the ...
Trump’s Great Gift to Canada
Thanks to Canada’s neighbour to the south, the optimism level of fishermen in lobster fishing areas (LFA) 34 and 35 must be on the rise.
A few months ago, The Navigator’s sister publication, Atlantic Fisherman, speculated that if trade talks between the U.S. and China continued to go sideways, then the Nova Scotia lobster industry might be on the verge of more market share in the lucrative and all-important Asian market. And it appears that prediction, due mainly to the unpredictable ...
Tidal Energy Turbine Worrying Bay of Fundy Fishermen
Photos by Lonnie Snow
Fishermen in the Bay of Fundy have been left wondering and worrying who will be responsible for the tidal energy turbine that was deployed in the Minas Passage by Cape Sharp Tidal, just days before the parent company in the venture filed for bankruptcy in Ireland.
The turbine deployment was done on July 22, nine days before the lobster fishing area (LFA) 35 lobster fishery closed for the season on July 31 and four days before OpenHydro Group Ltd. filed for ...
With the Canadian Lobster Season Over and Maine Ramping Up, Shore Prices Lower than Last Year
There are many things buffeting the lobster market, but as of yet, problems like trade wars, whale interactions and possible gear changes have not had discernable price impacts in either the U.S. or Canada.
Instead, lobster prices for both tails, meat and the live market represented a return to a more normal pattern than seen in 2017.
The Canadian season, which primarily lasts from May 1 to June 30, saw shore prices lower in both P.E.I./New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The FFAW reports that ...
Right Whales: Reason Needs to Outweigh Reaction
I have worked for the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association for 25 years.
It’s been a good career; there’s always something new in the fishery. I’ve gotten to know some great people both locally and across the country.
I come from a fishing family; my father, brother and brother-in-law are all fishermen. I have a strong attachment to what I do and why I do it.
While as a fishing community, we have the same seasonality markers as most places (Christmas, Easter, Canada Day, ...
Organizers Pleased with Lobster Forum Outcome
Organizers of the second annual SWNS Lobster Forum say they are “extremely pleased with the results of the event this year” which brought together more than 100 fishermen from the region as well as industry, government and academic experts to inform, discuss and plan for the future of the lobster fishery.
A co-operative effort by the MFU Local 9, Coldwater Lobster Association, Scotia Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association and the Bay of Fundy Fishermen’s Association, the forum covered ...
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Inshore Lobster Fishery Achieves MSC Certification
The Bay of Fundy, Scotian Shelf and Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence lobster trap fishery (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) has achieved certification to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard.
Following an independent assessment conducted by SAI Global, lobsters sourced from this fishery are now eligible to bear the blue MSC ecolabel which demonstrates they come from a well-managed, environmentally sustainable source.
This fishery joins an elite group of 259 MSC certified fisheries ...
Elderly Fishermen Treated Like Class B Citizens
Not many people can withstand the grueling conditions of lobster fishing. Even less can imagine continuing to lobster fish well into the age of 80. However, this is the reality for a group of aging fishermen across the Maritimes, many of whom have deteriorating health and continue to work against the risks. Their wish is to sell or transfer their licence and retire. A 50-year-old Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) policy prevents them from doing so. These fishermen are the holders of ...