The Fishery is Worth More Than Ever, So Why Isn’t N.L.’s Rural Population in Better Shape?
It is 2022.
It is hard to believe, for a number of reasons. Time is flying by and things inevitably change.
But for the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador and in too many ways for the fishery generally, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” or, the more things change, they more they stay the same.
We are 30 years out from the initial groundfish moratorium of July 1992. We’ve added another 10 years to the postponement of our hopes for a fully recovered cod fishery, ...
DFO Increasing Vessel Length Limit for Under 40-Foot N.L. Inshore Sub-Fleets
Above: David Greening photo
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) recently announced that it will increase existing vessel length limits for Newfoundland and Labrador’s inshore fishing boats to provide more consistency in all Atlantic Canada regions.
Specifically, the existing vessel length requirement for inshore sub-fleets, currently restricted to the less than 39’11” length in overall measurement, will increase to 49’11”.
DFO said the announcem...
30 Years Since the Cod Moratorium
Three decades have come and gone since the cod moratorium was announced on that fateful day in 1992.
I was just 12 years old growing up in Calvert at the time and the cod fishery was the heart and soul of the southern shore from Trepassey to Bay Bulls, just like the communities so many of you called home.
My family remained in the fishery after the moratorium, but many others did not. Over 30,000 people lost their livelihoods that day and the landscape of our province was forever change...
Product Pricing Creating N.L. Industry Friction
Disputes and disagreements over prices are nothing new in the Newfoundland and Labrador fishing industry — in fact, some would call them the norm.
However, a few months ago, this year had the promise of being a little different, as N.L. harvesters were anticipating record or near record price for snow crab and maybe even Northern shrimp. But things are not quite going as planned.
Earlier this year, in N.L., where the crab price is chosen through a collective bargaining process by the ...
What Has Been Learned From Perils Past?
There must have been an underlying air of irony as groundfish industry stakeholders met in Barcelona, Spain on April 26 to discuss the ongoing Northern cod fishery improvement project (FIP).
Stakeholders included Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), Marks & Spencer and Youngs Seafoods from the United Kingdom, Sysco France, High Liner Foods from Canada/United States and producer organizations in Canada, including Ocean Choice International, Icewater Seafoods, the Association of ...
Project Aims to Save Lives by Making PLBs Accessible to N.L. Fish Harvesters
Fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador are celebrating an important project that aims to make personal locator beacons (PLBs) accessible to all fish harvesters in the province.
A collaboration between the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish Harvesting Safety Association (NL-FHSA), Fish Harvesters’ Resource Centre (FRC), Professional Fish Harvesters Certification Board (PFHCB) and the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) will subsidize costs, making PLBs available to fish ...
Locator Beacons Help Take the “Search” Out of Search and Rescue
Above: Crewmembers from the Canadian Coast Guard’s search and rescue station in Burgeo on board the CCGS Cape Edensaw. CCG submitted photos
In July, 2021, two men found themselves in distress while sailing from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador.
They were 30 nautical miles south of La Poile, on Newfoundland’s south coast, when their 38-foot sailboat began taking on water.
Mark Gould remembers that July afternoon very well. Gould is the regional supervisor ...
Fishing Safety Knows No Boundaries or Borders
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore” — Vincent Van Gogh.
Through many of his masterpieces, Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh had a genuine appreciation and empathy for the dangers faced by fishermen every time they set out on the water. Skip ahead more than a century to present day and commercial fishing is still a dangerous professional and tragically still ...
Could 2022 Crab Season be Another Record Breaker?
Financially, the 2021 snow crab season was by far the best ever for the majority of harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador.
And, if early indications prove correct and of course the stars align, this upcoming crab season could possibly be even better.
With speculation abounding of fishermen possibly getting close to $10/pound for snow crab, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) Science Department confirmed recently what many already suspected — for the most part, the stocks ...
FFAW Launches Seal Awareness Campaign
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) recently launched a nationwide campaign to call attention to seal overpopulation in Atlantic Canada and the devastating effects on fish stocks.
The union representing fish harvesters is calling on the federal government to immediately undertake adequate scientific work to understand the true impact seals are having off eastern Canada’s coasts and to ensure appropriate action is taken to repair the ecosystem imbalance.
“The federal ...
The Fishery is Worth More Than Ever, So Why Isn’t N.L.’s Rural Population in Better Shape?
It is 2022. It is hard to believe, for a number of reasons. Time is flying by and things inevitably change. But for the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador and in too many ways for the fishery generally, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” or, the more things change, they more they stay the same. We are 30 years out from the initial groundfish moratorium of July 1992. We’ve added another 10 years to the postponement of our hopes for a fully recovered cod fishery, ...