Industry Shocked by Mackerel and Herring Closures
The March 30 announcement by Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Minister Joyce Murray that there will be no directed commercial or bait fishing for southern Gulf spring herring and a complete closure of the Atlantic mackerel commercial and bait fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Québec has sent shockwaves through the fishing industry.
“Announcing a moratorium on the mackerel fishery is one more example of how DFO and Minister Joyce Murray would rather eliminate livelihoods rather than do the actual ...
Mackerel Stocks Remain Low, DFO Reports
Despite a spawning stock biomass increase between 2016 and 2018, Atlantic mackerel “remains in the critical zone” says the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), with recruitment levels “at all-time lows” in 2017 and 2018.
“Since 2005, the spawning stock biomass index has declined and is now approximately one twentieth of the levels observed in the 1980s,” reads the summary of the latest stock assessment conducted in March, with the 2015 year class representing “75 ...
Mackerel Saves the Day for Icelanders
Iceland, like most of North America, suffered greatly due to the 2008 mortgage fiasco, perpetuated by money lenders without a care for the ability of a borrower to pay.
Here the motto was “we’re too big to fail” so our tax dollars bailed the miscreants out.
Not so in Iceland. No public bailouts, but jail time instead. That’s right, many of the guilty are still in the slammer.
While it was tough to lose one’s home — and many did — the Icelanders soldiered on.
And then a ...
More Fisheries Closing
DFO advised that the shrimp fishery in Shrimp Fishing Area 6 (Northern Shrimp), that portion of NAFO sub-Division 3Ps in Shrimp Fishing Area 7, and in Shrimp Fishing Area 8 (Gulf Shrimp) for inshore vessels less than
100 feet, based in NAFO Divisions 2J, 3K north, 3K south, 3L, 3Ps, and 4R will close on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 2000 hours.
DFO also advised that the Bluefin Tuna fishery in NAFO Divisions 3LNOP for all vessels and all gear types, including catch and release, will ...
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 ...
What Will Climate Change Mean for Future Fisheries?
Climate change offers both opportunities and risks to established and emerging fisheries and aquaculture enterprises and the communities they support.
ClimeFish is a four-year project largely backed by the European Union. This project has, at its core, the goal of providing sound advice to guide management decisions to ensure that seafood production can increase in areas and for species where there is potential for sustainable growth under climate change.
The ClimeFish consortium of ...
