Lobster fishermen tired of DFO miscommunication
Group says it has been unable to make headway on bycatch monitoring
Lobster fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia say they are frustrated and disappointed with the lack of direction, miscommunication, and overall support from Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) regional management.
Five separate fishermen’s associations joined forces in 2017 to form the Southwest Lobster Science Society (SWLSS) to work towards a partnership-based approach to fisheries management and conservation – a move which was touted to be a historic partnership between industry, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and regulators. Yet, the newly formed partnership has struggled to move forward as the regulators (DFO) will not make definitive decisions on critical issues in a timely fashion, states a media release from the group.
In 2017, DFO announced that an at-sea observer program to monitor bycatch in the lobster fishery was being implemented for the fall of 2018. The SWLSS says in response to DFO’s announcement, it offered fishermen throughout the region an alternative at-sea observer plan, which would not only collect supplementary scientific data to assist in conservation efforts, but would do so without enforcing a ‘hail out’ procedure which is commonly enforced in other fisheries.
The hail out system requires fishermen to phone an automated system at least six hours prior to leaving the wharf. The sixhour advance notice would create havoc for lobster fishermen, says SWLSS, as they already contend with two major determining factors for fishing: the weather and the tides.
Despite all efforts to work collaboratively with DFO, the SWLSS says it continues to be led astray on the bycatch monitoring framework and enforcement.
“We have been presented with endless obstacles and needless confusion created solely by DFO regional management when our intentions were simply to offer fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia a better, less cumber- some option to the hail out observer procedures,” says Bernie Berry, president of SWLSS. “The industry-led by-catch monitoring project had the potential to be a springboard to a co-management regime in the future. Partners need to make timely decisions for ventures like this to work.”
The SWLSS says it has met all of the scientific and planning requirements for their industry-led at-sea observer program, which were clearly outlined within their business plan. Discussions of industry overseeing the bycatch monitoring program began last August with several meetings with DFO regional management offering guidance and incentive.
The SWLSS was surprised and concerned last month when they were informed by DFO regional management that the ‘hail out’ system for the bycatch monitoring program being offered by DFO would in fact be applied but under a “modified frequency.” The media release states the SWLSS’s membership is left to question what this frequency will look like and how it would be enforced. The SWLSS says it needs clear direction from DFO on what the alternative plan for the bycatch monitoring project is before it can move forward.
“This initiative [SWLSS project] is the best deal for fishermen, regulators and the ocean,” says SWLSS director Colin Sproul. “Regretfully, due to a lack of good faith and transparency by regulators, we can no longer make informed decisions in the best interests of our members. We are grateful for the encouragement we’ve received from the conservation community. We remain hopeful that we will move forward together in the future.”