Harvesting Plan Announced for 2019 Northern Cod Fishery
Harvesters in eastern Newfoundland are either already on the water or are gearing up for the 2019 Northern cod fishery.
This spring, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) reported that the spawning stock biomass (SSB) for 2J3KL cod had returned to its level of two years ago, about 48 per cent of the critical level needed for a healthy fishery or 398,000 tonnes. In fact, DFO actually revised its 2018 stock projection. The department reported that the 2018 SSB had been revised from ...
Northern Cod Stewardship Fishery Receives 30 Per Cent Increase
The soap opera that is the 2J3KL cod fishery continues.
Last year, after several years of cautious growth, the commercial Northern cod catch limits were reduced by 25 per cent to under 10,000 tonnes by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
The reduction did not come as a real shock to anyone following DFO’s earlier 2018 announcement that 2J3KL cod had experienced a 29 per cent single-year decline in spawning stock biomass (SSB).
Last year, the 29 per cent single-year decline ...
N.S. Herring Fishery Patterns Changing
For the uninitiated, catching fish with all of the modern gear is a simple thing, with the creatures having little chance of surviving the onslaught.
This might be the case in instances where migratory patterns are set, or as in the case of scallops, the prey is basically static on the ocean bottom.
Climate change, especially the warming of ocean waters, is changing all that.
Herring, an important food and bait fish in Atlantic Canada, used to disappear in the fall, with purse seiners ...
N.L. Northern Shrimp Quota Takes Another Big Hit
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has announced a 63 per cent cut to the inshore Northern shrimp quota in fishing area 6 — meaning the total allowable catch for SFA 6 went from 48,196 tonnes in 2015 to 27,825 tonnes in 2016, to 10,400 tonnes announced for 2017.
This amounts to a 78 per cent quota reduction over two years.
These dramatic cuts to the harvest rate are not in line with the reduction in the Northern shrimp biomass, claims the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union ...
2017 N.L. Snow Crab Quota Cut 22 Per Cent
In the wake of extensive cuts to Northern shrimp, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has announced the 2017 snow crab Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Newfoundland and Labrador Region is 35,419 tonnes, an overall quota level decrease of approximately 22 per cent from 2016.
The TAC decrease includes a two per cent reduction in 3K, 26 per cent in division 3LNO (46 per cent in the areas outside the 200-mile limit and 23 per cent in areas inside the 200 mile limit), a 50 per cent ...
DFO Increases Access for Indigenous Groups to Southern Gulf Snow Crab Fishery
The Government of Canada is using an historic increase in snow crab biomass in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence to increase Indigenous access to this fishery during the 2017 season.
Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced April 12 that the management decision for Crab Fishing Areas (CFA) 12, 12E, 12F, and 19. The decision includes a one-time setting aside of up to 1,100 tonnes from CFAs 12 and 19 for Indigenous groups in the area to increase ...
UPDATED: Northern Shrimp Biomass in SFA 6 at Critical Level
It looks as though the Northern shrimp fishery off Newfoundland’s northeast coast will soon be receiving another hit.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans held a technical briefing today regarding the 2017 Northern Shrimp Stock Assessment and the news was not good — particularly in the beleaguered Shrimp Fishing Area (SFA) 6.
DFO scientists announced that in the all-important SFA 6, the fishable biomass index declined from 785,000 tonnes in 2006 to 104,000 tonnes in 2016. There was ...
For Nova Scotia it’s Déjà vu All Over Again
The latest brouhaha between fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia is over shrimp quota allocations.
So what else is new?
Years ago, I remember discussing various fisheries topics with the then-federal Fisheries Minister Romeo LeBlanc. At one point I asked him what was the most difficult part of his job and he quickly replied, “allocations.”
Since the 1970s, a policy known as Last In, First Out (LIFO) has been in effect in Atlantic Canada. In other words, the first ...
Northern Shrimp Quota Cuts Will Impact Coastal Communities, FFAW says
Inshore northern shrimp harvesters and plant workers have mixed feelings on the announcement by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on proportionate sharing in shrimp fishing area (SFA) 6 and quotas for 2016-2017, the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) said in a press release Friday.
The new proportionate sharing plan will allocate 70 per cent of the annual northern shrimp quota in SFA 6 to the inshore fleet, which is a move to a better fisheries management regime for ...
Northern Shrimp Fishery Hit With 42 Per Cent Quota Cut
Late Thursday, July 14, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officially announced want many were speculating – quota cuts to Northern shrimp.
As part of the management plan for 2016/17, DFO announced that in Northern Shrimp Fishing Area (SFA) 6, the total allowable catch will be reduced by 42.3 per cent from 2015/16 level of 48,196 tonnes to 27,825 tonnes.
As was previously announced, the Last In, First Out policy has been eliminated and replaced with proportional shares. The ...
