Herring scarce as lobster season nears

By Jim Brown

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

In less than two weeks vessels across Prince Edward Island will hit the water for the start of the spring lobster fishery.

It's impossible to say whether lobster catches will be decent in the early days, but fishermen have a higher degree of certainty about herring.

"It's not a good outlook for the spring," said Ed Frenette, executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association, in Charlottetown.

His bleak assessment is based on research conducted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Many lobster fishers rely on herring to bait their traps. If they can't catch them in their nets, they will have to purchase them at greater cost from elsewhere, perhaps even off-Island.

"We usually go over 400 pounds just for baiting up on opening day,” said longtime lobster fisher Norman Peters, who fishes out of Rustico harbour.

"You can put on three or four herring per trap," he said.

"I can (use) up to 160 to 170 herring on the first trip," he said.

The numbers are all dependent on the weather.

"If it's a lovely, calm day that's when you get up to 170 or more.The traps are all set to go and the mechanic was called to check the motor," said Peters last Thursday from the wharf, where he was preparing for the season.

But a shadow has been cast over the start.

Expenses are rising, with diesel hitting approximately $1.40 a litre. Peters went on to say a number of lobster fishers have had poor-to-miserable luck filling their nets with herring.

Some fishers have landed as few as "three or four" in an outing, he said.

"Only one fellow got 35 to 40," said Peters, and that person was using several nets. "It's getting a little harder to find fresh bait."

In his case he's relying on the company that buys his lobster to supply bait.

Frenette said authorities have yet to set a quota this year for the region's major fishing groups, including those in P.E.I.

That means the commercial fishery may have to start on a "risk management" basis, with the quota to be set later. Fishermen who catch herring for bait, usually for lining traps, are allowed to use three small nets.

Herring catches were disappointing for many fishers last year, too.

(Jim Brown is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Journal Pioneer and a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)