Drills and Documenting with Fish Safe NS
As the lobster season is about to kick off in southwest Nova Scotia, Fish Safe NS wants people to know that it is important for fishing vessels to not only perform regular safety drills, but also routinely document them.
According to the executive director of Fish Safe NS, Dylan Buchanan, Transport Canada is seeking to ensure vessels not only have safety plans in place but that they are documented and practiced. An easy way to keep all this information in place, said Buchanan, is to utilize ...
N.S. Company Serves Up Lobster for the Microwave
What began as an idea to avoid the lingering smell of boiling lobster has led Lobster Made Easy founder and CEO Mark Lowe to expand his microwaveable product from Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia to as far away as Texas.
The idea began shortly after Lowe, a commercial real estate developer, had sold a business of his and built a new home. Lowe had recently bought a couple of lobsters from the grocery store and decided to treat himself to a nice meal, only to meet resistance from his wife Corrina.
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The Nova Scotia Lobster Fleet is Ready to Go Electric, With Some Help
Oceans North, a charitable organization that seeks to encourage the adoption of policies to address issues with climate change, has identified Nova Scotia’s lobster fleet as a prime candidate for switching to fully electric propulsion.
Brent Dancey, Oceans North’s Director of Marine Climate Action, said that while many sectors across the country have made moves to enact cleaner, greener changes to reduce carbon emissions and pollution, the fishing industry has fallen behind the global ...
Kent Smith Takes on N.S. Fisheries and Aquaculture
On September 14, 2023, Kent Smith was sworn in as Nova Scotia’s newest Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Smith, who was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Eastern Shore in 2021, is taking on his first ministerial portfolio in Fisheries and Aquaculture — which he admits is a large undertaking.
“Obviously, this sector is extremely important, and I knew how important it was based on my life growing up on the Eastern Shore here in Nova Scotia, but I’m really ...
No Major Damage From Lee in Southwest Nova Scotia
Above: Extra lines help keep boats at the Falls Point wharf in Woods Harbour safely tied up during post-tropical storm Lee. Kathy Johnson photo
Aside from some coastal erosion and downed trees, post-tropical storm Lee’s bite wasn’t as bad as its bark when it blew through southwestern Nova Scotia on Sept. 16.
Lee made landfall on Long Island, Digby County late afternoon, also touching down in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Peak wind gusts of 80 to 110 kilometres per ...
All Systems Go for 2023/24 LFA 33/34 Lobster Fishery
The traps and gear are being overhauled, soon to be piled on commercial fishing wharves and loaded aboard fishing boats from Eastern Passage through to Digby County, ready for the shotgun start of the lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33/34 fishery.
Weather permitting, the season is scheduled to open on Nov. 27 in both lucrative lobster fishing areas.
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) policy allows for up to two days of flexibility for LFAs 33 and 34 to open early if poor weather could ...
From Bad, to Worse to Hopefully Better
People often say, that when it rains, it pours.
While there has been a dark cloud over the Nova Scotia lobster fishery for some months now, the sun must shine eventually.
As far back as the start of the 2021/22 season, lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33 and 34 were facing challenges from weather to a large uptick in the price of bait. High winds ended up delaying the season opening for two days and while prices in the $11 per pound range seemed like a fair trade-off for the delay, higher ...
14 Bluefin Landed During 19th Annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival
Above: The Aqua-Haulic III idles into place at the Wedgeport Breakwater wharf for the weigh-in. Kathy Johnson photo
It was the year for bluefin tuna at the 19th annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival, with the highest recorded weight in the tournament’s history for the 14 fish landed.
“This year, the bluefin were by far the highest average weight per fish,” said Brandon Doucette, president of the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament Association. “We had four ...
Fishermen Impacted by Barrington Lake Wildfire Being Helped by Fellow Harvesters
Gearing up for this fall’s LFA 33/34 lobster fishery is going to be a little more challenging for 17 fishermen in Shelburne County who lost thousands of dollars in uninsurable fishing gear during the Barrington Lake wildfire last spring.
Called the largest wildfire in Nova Scotia’s history, the wildfire burned out-of-control for two weeks in late May/early June, leaving a path of destruction in its wake, including 60 primary residences, some 150 buildings, vehicles and fishing gear.
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Charting Her Own Course: Lobstering with Lunenburg Harvester Gail Atkinson
Gail Atkinson is one of Canada’s very few female lobster harvesters, who employs an almost entirely female crew aboard the Nellie Row.
Gail Atkinson grew up on Cape Sable Island in Southwest Nova Scotia. Coming from a long line of fish harvesters and boat builders, she originally had no desire to follow in her family’s footsteps.
“I ended up starting fishing with my father,” said Atkinson. “I started when I was a little bit older because I couldn’t wait to get out of there. ...
