Lobster fishing season set to open
There's been a lot of discussion about the commercial lobster fishery off southwestern Nova Scotia in recent months. Now, the season is here, although it will be a split start to the season that was to have opened for all Monday.
The fishery in Lobster Fishing Area 33, which runs along the south shore — taking in parts of Shelburne County and extending all the way to Halifax County — will open as scheduled on Monday. Boats will leave at 7 a.m.
The same is not the case for LFA 34 off southwestern Nova Scotia, which — following days of fine weather over the weekend — won't see boats heading out on dumping day Monday. The forecast for much of LFA 34 differs from that of LFA 33.
In LFA 34, which takes in all of Yarmouth County and parts of Digby and Shelburne counties and has more licences than LFA 33, the forecast was good for the start of the day Monday, with winds of 15 knots. But the Lurcher marine forecast issued Sunday called for winds to increase to southeast 20 to 25 near noon Monday and then again to southeast 30 that evening.
The forecast for Tuesday was calling for 40-knot winds from the southeast.
With boats loaded with traps and gear, two industry conference calls held over the weekend determined that forecasted weather conditions did not allow for a safe start to the season for everyone.
Like previous seasons, how the commercial seasons in LFAS 34 and 33 will unfold is anyone's guess. Will fishers be paid good shore prices? Will the season be safe? How will the COVID pandemic impact the situation?
In addition to this, the past few months have been difficult ones, given a lobster dispute that has played itself out.
The Sipekne'katik First Nation, tired of waiting for Ottawa to act on treaty rights it says were affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999, launched its own selfregulated moderate livelihood fishery in September in St. Marys Bay. It said the federal government had 21 years to define moderate livelihood but failed to do so.
While the Supreme Court's Marshall decision affirmed treaty rights, the commercial sector said a court clarification in November 1999 said these rights were subject to regulation by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Frustration from years of what the industry called a lack of enforcement of out-of-season fishing — during critical breeding periods — rose to the surface.
The dispute saw peaceful protest, but also acts of vandalism to gear and property, and threats were hurled in both directions. At times, there was calm, which has been the case for the past month, but earlier on, things were ugly, nasty and tense.
Despite their disagreements, there was agreement shared by Indigenous and nonIndigenous fishers. They both pointed the finger of blame for the situation at Ottawa, saying the federal government had failed to act properly and address issues in the past and in the present.
The Sipekne'katik First Nation, meanwhile, said it received a draft memorandum of understanding from Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan's office regarding its moderate livelihood fishery. Chief Mike Sack said the MOU includes the capacity for the First Nation to legally sell its catch.
“This agreement has the potential to be a historic recognition of our treaty rights and to make good on the promise and legacy of Donald Marshall Jr.'s work which was recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada over 21 years ago,” Sack said in a news release Sunday.
“We will be conducting due diligence on the finer details of the MOU this week, however, it is very meaningful that Minister Jordan and her team produced an agreement which acknowledges our right to sell, particularly as the commercial season opens.”
Sack had suggested days earlier that perhaps their Sipekne'katik fishers would have to replenish some of their own lost gear with commercial gear that was to be set in the water. He made that comment after DFO officers hauled and landed lobster traps in St. Marys Bay starting on the weekend of Nov. 21-22.
For its part, DFO said the gear it had landed — as part of what it called routine inspection — included a combination of some untagged gear, traps that had tampered tags, “unauthorized” gear, lobster traps with non-functioning escape hatches and traps in which female crabs were used as bait, which is illegal. DFO says its investigation of the traps is ongoing.
Sipekne'katik said its compliance officers would be conducting routine trap inspections and checking tags for the treaty fishery throughout the day Sunday.
On Friday,the mayors and wardens of 11 municipal units in southwestern Nova Scotia spoke in a unified voice about public safety, security, and economic concerns relating to the ongoing tensions surrounding the fishery in St. Marys Bay. The municipal units – the districts of Argyle, Barrington, Clare, Digby, Shelburne, and Yarmouth, and the towns of Clark's Harbour, Digby, Lockeport, Shelburne, and Yarmouth — said they want to see a peaceful and safe resolution.
“We all want a peaceful start to the commercial fishing season and to resolve the tensions in St. Marys Bay," said Barrington Warden Eddie Nickerson.
TIME TO FISH
For the commercial industry, the focus of late has been on the six-month commercial season, which is the economic engine that drives communities in southwestern Nova Scotia — and contributes to the provincial economy as a whole — and also includes both nonIndigenous and Indigenous licences.
LFA 34 and LFA 33 make up the largest commercial lobster season in the province and country.
The season is always slated to get underway the last Monday of November unless the weather pushes back the start.
More than 5,000 fishermen will be aboard the boats in the two fishing districts at the start of the season.
In LFA 34, there are 942 category A licences and 36 communal commercial licences, for a total of 978 licences overall, says DFO.
In LFA 33, there are 635 category A licences, 27 category B licences and 20 communal commercial licences, for a total of 682 licences overall.
The Sipekne'katik First Nation said it elected to suspend its nine commercial licences. Sack said the decision was made because of concern about further retaliation against its fishers.
Despite repeated inquiries, the preliminary landed value of last year's commercial season was not available from DFO at the time this story was written. In the 2018-19 season, the total landed value from both fishing districts came in at $498.2 million, compared to about $502 million the year before.
Last season, the industry faced an unexpected issue: the COVID-19 pandemic. It started to make things problematic in January as markets in other parts of the world — namely China — evaporated as economies shut down and people were forced to stay home.
The COVID-19 impacts followed the season through to its May finish.
What impact COVID-19 will have this year remains to be seen, although it does have harvesters and buyers concerned as the second wave of the pandemic is being felt throughout the world.
“As we head into the fall, there is major concern of the second wave,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.
Irvine said the lobster council has worked very hard over the past year to monitor and track the situation but he expects COVID-19 will “provide the same kind of uncertainty for dealers/processors and live shippers that we saw in the spring.”
SAFETY ON THE SEA
Given this, safety is of the upmost importance as the season gets underway and boats head to the fishing grounds laden with traps and gear on dumping day.
There will be numerous coast guard and military assets on the water and in the air for the opening of the season in LFA 33 and LFA 34. Throughout the season, fishers and their crews are encouraged to keep a high emphasis on safety.
While it's important to bring home lobster catches, it's also important for crews to just come home.
“To me, safety is everything and bringing your crew home is the biggest thing," said Kasey Demings, a fishing captain out of Gunning Cove, Shelburne County. "And making sure that everybody comes home to their families is one of the biggest things everybody should be looking at in this industry."
The season runs to May 31 in both districts. These aren't the only lobster fisheries happening in western Nova Scotia. The LFA 35 season in Digby and the upper Bay of Fundy got underway in mid-october. That area has a split season that runs from Oct. 14 to Dec. 31 and again from the last day of February to July 31.