Lobster fishermen asked to adopt voluntary practices to avoid whale entanglements

By Tina Comeau

SOU'WESTER

NovaNewsNow.com

By Tina Comeau

SOU’WESTER

Pointing out that they are fishing practices that fishermen here already use, the region’s lobster industry is putting down on paper voluntary steps it is willing to support as part of a goal to reduce right whale entanglements in fishing gear.

At the spring meeting of the lobster fishing area (LFA) 34 advisory committee – which covers Yarmouth County and parts of Shelburne and Digby counties – the port reps agreed to adopt a voluntary plan put forward by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada. The plan is the result of significant consultation with lobster fishermen that was led by Clare fisherman Hubert Saulnier of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union. “The whole point of the plan is to keep excess line out of the water,” said Sean Brillant, a WWF conservation analyst, as he outlined measures contained in the voluntary plan.

With only around 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, any report of a whale entangled in fishing gear it is cause for concern. And when a whale is said to be entangled in Canadian gear, often media reports don’t specify which region the gear is from, only that the gear is Canadian.

That’s unfair to LFA 34 lobster fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia because when the commercial season here is open and gear is in the water, it is rare for endangered whales to be in the area.

Also, whales entangled in Canadian lobster gear are likely a rarer event, unlike the situation with the lobster fishery in the U.S.

Tonya Wimmer, manager of species conservation with the WWF, said being proactive can have a favourable impact on the perception issue. It may also avoid calls to mandate how fishermen fish. “It doesn’t matter how small the risk is. We know it’s small. But we need to show that the lobster industry is doing something,” Wimmer said.

The voluntary measures have also been adopted by the neighbouring LFA 33 in Queens and Lunenburg counties.

Other lobster fishing areas have expressed an interest in being part of the discussion.

QUICK GLANCE:

Measures set out in the voluntary plan adopted by LFAs 34 and 33: •endlines no more than twice the depth •trail lines no more than eight fathoms in length •gangions are no more than one fathom •when fishing in deeper water, use longer trawls (avoid using singles, doubles or triples in water deeper than 20 fathoms); •when moving trawls inshore, shorten endlines; •trawls should be set in the same direction as the tide so traps are well spread out and groundlines are low; •when setting trawls near slack tide, increasing speed keeps groundlines lower; •avoid setting or retrieving gear when a whale is in the area; •report whale sightings and share this information with other fishermen; •if you see an entangled whale, call 1-800-565-1633 and remain in the area.

These voluntary measures have also been adopted by the neighbouring LFA 33.