Lobster season now underway

Assistance provided to some crews during opening days

As they say, better late than never.

The lobster season in southwestern Nova Scotia finally got underway this past Saturday, six days later than it should have due to delays caused by the weather that pushed the season’s start well back from Monday, Nov. 26.

The weather for the Dec. 1 dumping day was quite favourable, although it was less favourable Sunday evening for boats still out on the water. Fishermen were permitted to start hauling their traps at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2. The early anecdotal information was that catches and landings were down, although obviously it is very early in the season.

There were some incidents involving vessels in the opening days of the season.

In LFA 33 along the south shore of the province, a vessel sank off Hackett’s Cove on dumping day morning. The four crew, who were wearing PFDs, were rescued from the water and confirmed to be safe.

A disabled fishing vessel was also towed into Clark’s Harbour after reporting its engine had failed and it was taking on water near Green Island.

On Sunday the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) said a disabled fishing vessel was being towed to Yarmouth after it caught fire about 15 nautical miles west of Yarmouth. The fire was extinguished and the crew was safe, said the JRCC. In a separate incident in Sunday, the JRCC coordinated the medavac of a patient from a lobster boat approximately 35 nautical miles south of Yarmouth. It was not known at our press time what the condition of that person was, nor did we have information on the names of the vessels involved in the incidents on Sunday.

For updates about the lobster season visit our website.