DFO set to make ‘split’ decision

By TOM AYERS

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

From The Cape Breton Post, Transcontinental Media

SYDNEY — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is expected to make an announcement this week opening the first split snow crab season on the Scotian shelf in response to a high rate of soft-shelled crab in the fishing grounds north and east of Cape Breton.

Acting Sydney area manager Paul Gentile said fishermen have been asking for a spring crab season starting April 26 and DFO is set to respond. The minister is expected to make an announcement this week on the season, quotas and a protocol that will call for the fishery to be closed in the N-ENS crab area when soft-shell numbers reach more than 20 per cent of landings.

“The department is reacting to their wishes to the best of our ability,” said Gentile.

The snow crab season on the Scotian shelf, north and east of Cape Breton, normally opens in July and closes in September. Split seasons, including a short spring crab fishery, have been in place in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for years.

Neil’s Harbour crab fisherman Glenn Fricker said the snow crab fishery in former areas 20, 21 and 22 — now merged and known as N-ENS — is in peril and he has been asking DFO to enforce conservation measures before it’s too late.

DFO scientists and fishermen say too many soft-shelled crabs are being caught in the N-ENS area and the problem is expected to get worse.

Fricker said that is threatening the livelihood of local fishermen and the communities where they live, because quotas are being reduced as a result.

He said DFO should either shut down the crab fishery in N-ENS and compensate fishermen, or merge N-ENS with the more lucrative fishery in the much larger S-ENS area east of Cape Breton, where there are a lot more crab, fewer soft-shelled crab and not as much competition from fishermen.

“They’ve got 40 times as much crab as us and less than one and a half times as many licences, so it’s a real big area with a lot of crab and very few boats,” said Fricker.

“We would like to get some access there.”

The problem, explained Fricker, is that soft-shelled crab are more vulnerable and therefore more likely to die when thrown back.

In the comparatively large S-ENS area, he said, fishermen can simply move their boats to a new spot and fish for better quality crab. They can also fish farther offshore because of the undersea geography and the size of their boats.

“They’ve got so much they can move 50 miles and get away from (soft-shelled crab),” Fricker said. “We’ve got smaller boats and a smaller area, so it’s pretty hard to get away from them.”

DFO statistics from 2007 show that more soft-shelled crab were caught in N-ENS compared to other areas and that soft-shelled crab deaths in the area were much higher than recommended, yet the fishery was not shut down.

Gentile said that’s partly because the shutdown was voluntary. This year, he said, it will be mandatory if soft-shell exploitation rates exceed 20 per cent.

He also said the fact that so many soft-shelled crab are being caught bodes well for the future of the fishery. DFO scientists call it a large recruitment pulse that will result in increased crab population in a couple of years.

“The whole northern area is going through a period that’s waiting to catch what’s coming,” said Gentile.

Opening a spring crab season should allow fishermen to catch crab before they moult their shells and changing the protocol around soft-shell catches in the summer is expected to protect the population, he added.

“That’s the delicate balance between maintaining a viable fishery and protecting the resource,” Gentile said.

Fricker said fishermen will take advantage of the spring snow crab season, but with drift ice in the area and the coming lobster season in May, it will be difficult. The N-ENS area is also facing reduced quota because of the large soft-shell problem, while the S-ENS quota is expected to increase.

“Most boats are going to go out, but they’re not happy about it,” Fricker said. “He’s saying a lot of fishermen want to go — yeah, it’s not want to, it’s have to.

“If you go out in summer and the soft-shell is over 20 per cent, you’re done, so this is the only chance you got.

“The biggest thing is the area right next to us is doing real good. They could put us all in there. There’s enough crab in Cape Breton for everybody to do well.”