The time for talk is almost done says DFO – decision must be made on when season will start

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The talk is still ongoing on whether to go lobster fishing on Monday or delay the start of the season, but the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says the talk can’t go on forever.

DFO says a decision will be made by it tomorrow morning (Thursday, Nov. 20) at 9 a.m. of whether the season is go or not.

“The decision doesn’t have to be made by then, but it will be,” DFO area director Ian Marshall said late Wednesday morning.

To agree to a delay of the season, he said DFO will require a strong agreement consensus of 75 per cent or more.

“Sixty-six per cent wasn’t enough on Sunday,” said Marshall, referring to an emergency meeting held by fishermen to discuss whether to put off the start of the season.

What has fishermen deeply concerned is the price they may get paid for the lobsters. In other lobster fisheries, fishermen are only getting around $3 or $3.50, a price lobster fishermen say they just can’t survive on with all of the expenses associated with fishing. But fishermen who fish close to shore worry that a delay in the season will impact their catches since the lobsters will be moving away from shore the colder the water becomes.

A meeting is being held today between lobster fishermen and buyers and dealers to further talk about the price issue. One thing fishermen have said they don’t want to see happen is them getting a price of $3.50 a pound while at the local grocery store lobsters sell for $10.

A port rep going into Monday afternoon’s meeting said the opinion at his wharf is if the dealers can guarantee fishermen a better price, then the fishermen want the season to be delayed. But if delaying the season still results in the same price, the vote is, “we might as well go Monday. The economy isn’t going to change in a week.”

Marshall said DFO is waiting to see whether today’s meeting will have any impact on fishermen’s feelings of whether to go to sea Monday or not.

But at the same time, he said, there has to be a final decision.

“If it’s going to open Monday they have to get bait, their have to schedule to their crew, we’re got to schedule our patrol boats, we’ve got to schedule our aircraft. The Department of National Defense has to know if they’re flying Monday,” he said. “People have t stop talking and get ready to go, barring any unforeseen weather issue.”

At this point, the weather is the only thing that will ultimately determine whether no fishing at all happens on Monday. Because regardless of what happens in lobster fishing area 34, which covers Yarmouth and parts of Shelburne and Digby counties, there will still be a start to a season on Nov. 24. Fishermen in the neighbouring lobster fishing area 33 intend to start their season on the last Monday of November.

“There’s 100 per cent consensus to go on the 24th from the reps,” said Marshall.