Lobster fishermen to meet in Yarmouth to discuss variety of issues facing industry

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Protection of large lobsters, damaged lobster shells, industry certification and other timely issues and questions facing the lobster industry in southwestern Nova Scotia will be on the agenda when lobster licence holders and fishermen gather for a meeting at the Yarmouth Wesleyan Church on Sept. 23.

The meeting is being organized by the lobster fishing area (LFA) 34 management board and covers a broad spectrum of issues that the industry is dealing with, has been asked to mull over or can expect to be faced with in the future.

LFA 34 takes in all of Yarmouth County and parts of Digby and Shelburne counties. The meeting will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the church, which is located on Haley Road.

Other agenda items include scallop dragging effects, Marine Stewardship Council certification, changes to Workers’ Compensation and Transport Canada regulations and the dispute that’s been going on in scallop area 29 and St. Mary’s Bay.

On the latter issue, lobster fishermen have been protesting the scallop fishery in scallop area 29, claiming the rakes being dragged on the ocean bottom are responsible for damage to lobsters. DFO studied the issue last year and concluded that damage was a result of a tropical storm that had passed through the area the prior year. Fishermen are unconvinced and have been conducting their own test fishery, with DFO’s permission.

The issue of protection of large lobsters is something DFO has identified as a priority, saying it wants to keep more large lobsters in the water so they can continue to reproduce.

As things stand there is a minimum size limit but there is nothing to prevent fishermen from landing large lobsters. DFO is asking fishermen to consider two possible measures: a maximum size measure or a trap window slot measure.

DFO has told the lobster industry it’s not a matter of if a measure will be put in, but a matter of when. Several lobster fishing areas have met to discuss the issue, with the most recent meeting happening last Friday.

As for the Mariner Stewardship Council (MSC) topic, lobster fisherman Ashton Spinney says this is another important issue facing the industry. MSC is a fishery certification and seafood eco-labeling program that recognizes and rewards sustainable fishing practices. It’s a program aimed at helping consumers and customers of seafood products trace back where the seafood comes from and how it was caught. At a lobster industry summit held a year ago, participants were told that in parts of the world MSC is becoming more and more of an expectation.

“The Marine Stewardship Council, we don’t know what to think of that,” says Spinney. “The saddest part of MSC is it’s all going to be a downloading of cost on fishermen and is there going to be any benefit for us? If there is a major benefit, I have no problem, but if it is only going to be beneficial for a certain segment of the fishermen, we’re paying for someone else.

Spinney adds, “I have no problem with looking at the sustainability of our fishery and our practices, but for someone else to use that against us, I do have a problem.”