Switching to Whale-Safe Gear is a Heavy Subject for the N.L. Snow Crab Fishery
To protect critically endangered whales from threats posed by entanglement, the Government of Canada is expected to mandate the use of whale-safe gear in Canadian fixed gear fisheries by 2024.
Whale-safe gear involves incorporating weak elements in the design of standard fishing gear which will break with a specified amount of force, lower than the ropes currently in use. While whale-safe gear may protect whales and avoid fishing area closures, as well as shortened or modified fishing ...
Snow Crab Stocks Stay Consistently Strong in N.L.
While prices likely won’t meet the high expectations set by 2021 and early 2022, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) delivered a cautiously optimistic outlook on the snow crab stocks in Newfoundland and Labrador for the coming season.
According to Julia Pantin, the biologist in charge of this year’s snow crab technical briefing, the stocks off Newfoundland (with the exception of 2HJ off Labrador) will continue to stay steady into 2023.
“The overall exploitable biomass ...
Uncertain Snow Crab Season Becomes More Uncertain
Japan, South Korea Shirk Local Supply in Favour of Russian Exports
Japanese imports of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab have considerably fallen over the last year in favour of Russian exports, which is undercutting Newfoundland and Labrador prices by around $10 per kilogram.
“Japan did buy from us last year, but it was a drastically reduced amount based on historical purchases by Japan,” said N.L. Member of Parliament Clifford Small, Shadow Minister of Fisheries, Oceans ...
Is the Snow Crab Market a Bellwether or a Blip?
In the U.S., snow crab outperformed every other seafood product during the pandemic.
Yet today, the snow crab market is crashing at the fastest pace since the spring of 1995. That year, between May 1995 and May 1996, the price fell 46 per cent.
This year, Urner Barry quotations from last summer until this May are down 33 per cent and the bottom has not been set. This is already the largest percentage decline in price since 1995. Since February, the market has been going down around 50 ...
Has Politics Overshadowed Autonomy?
Scottish academic and philosopher Gordon Graham once said, “decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision, a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it.”
Right now, it is a little too early to analyze the outcome of the recent decision to award more snow crab processing licences in Newfoundland and Labrador, but there appears to be quite a bit of collateral damage surrounding this controversial call.
On May 24, N.L. Fisheries Minister Derrick ...
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 ...
Positive Indications for Southern Gulf Snow Crab Fishery
An expected increase in the 2022 total allowable catch (TAC) and strong signs of stock recruitment are good news for the Southern Gulf snow crab fishery.
It is anticipated the fishery will open in April “as soon as it is safe to do so,” said Steve Hachey, communications advisor for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
“It varies every year, depending on ice conditions, wind conditions, weather forecast, etc...”
Last year, the season opened in early April, compared to late April ...
Boom Times in the Eastern Gulf Snow Crab Fishery
Snow crab fishermen in Atlantic Canada are receiving record prices for their catches this spring.
“It certainly has reached a level we have never seen before,” said Osborne Burke, general manager at Victoria Cooperative Fisheries in Cape Breton.
“If someone said to me in March the price was going to be $4.50, $5/pound, I would have said yes. If someone said it was going to be $8/pound, I would have said they were crazy.”
For Cape Breton fishermen, the snow crab fishery opened ...
N.L. Harvesters Seeing Record High Crab Prices
The news for Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab fishermen keeps getting better at every turn.
After a dismal, COVID-19 impacted 2020 season, N.L. harvesters must be looking skyward, thinking some higher power must be looking down favourable upon them.
The latest bit of good news came on April 25 from the province’s Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel.
In late March, the Panel had sided with the FFAW’s proposed price of $5.73/pound over the Association of Seafood Producers’ (ASP) ...
2021 N.L. Snow Crab Season Begins on a High Note
After a somewhat dismal, COVID-19 impacted 2020 snow crab season, Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters have several reasons to feel good about their prospects in 2021.
The first bit of good news for N.L. crab fishermen came on March 29 when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) released the management plan for the 2021 snow crab fishery, which included a significant increase of 29 per cent in overall quotas.
The second positive news of note came on March 31 when the N.L. Standing ...
