Lobster fishermen satisfied after DFO meeting on crab quota

By Tom Ayers

FOR THE SOU’WESTER



Inverness County lobster fishermen are satisfied that their concerns have been heard after a meeting with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Antigonish on Monday.

The meeting came after lobster fishermen ended a harbour blockade in Inverness on Sunday, in which they were seeking a portion of the snow crab quota to offset their lobster season, which has been hit by high fuel costs, poor catches and low prices.

“It went well,” Inverness lobster fisherman Lawrence MacLellan said of the meeting with DFO. “We sat down and discussed some things and they put forward some proposals about what they thought we should do and we’ll take that back to the fishermen.

“We’ll probably do what they tell us.”

Fisheries spokesman Michel Therien said the 2008 crab fishery management plan can’t be changed because it has been announced by the minister, and new quota allocations for this year are being apportioned among the six Gulf region crab fishermen’s associations.

(Tom Ayers is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Cape Breton Post, which is a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)