By Emma Graney
FOR THE SOU’WESTER
Transcontinental Media
The recreational groundfish fishery closed for the summer in Newfoundland and Labrador on Aug. 15 with Northern Peninsula fishermen reporting a sharp drop in catch numbers, most blaming a season that opened too early.
“The cod just weren’t jigging — they don’t jig at this time of the year,” Goose Cove fisherman Des McDonald said. “The season opened too early. In late July and early August the fish are sitting on the bottom glutted with capelin and they’re just not going for the jiggers. Why would they? Their bellies are full.
“It’s not a lack of fish, the fish are there, they’re just not hungry.”
McDonald was out on the water a number of times but didn’t manage to fill his five-fish quota once – a huge difference from previous years.
“It would be better off if they started now and let us fish through to late September because the fish will be more active then, not full of capelin,” he said.
To add to the frustration, the recreational groundfish fishery in Nova Scotia runs from June 26 to Sept. 6.
“If their fishery is open all that time, why isn’t ours?” asked Main Brook recreational fisherman Ward Samson.
Samson questioned why the fishery in N.S. was open for 10 weeks compared with Newfoundland’s three weeks in the summer and one in the fall.
“Newfoundland and Labrador is a very large province, but that’s all we get,” he said.
McDonald said the government should stagger the season to allow for the migration of fish.
“When there are fish in St John’s or Conception Bay there’s nothing up here, just as over the other side of the Northern Peninsula they get fish at different times from over here,” he said. “The government needs to come up here and they need to talk to the locals and find out the best times for fishing. For the last few days there you could tell the fish were biting more, but then the season ended.”
A Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesperson said the government had no plans to implement a staggered season for the fishery.
“Season dates for the recreational groundfish fishery are the same for all areas of Newfoundland and Labrador (which) is an important management measure for effectively monitoring this recreational fishery,” the spokesperson said. “The department is not considering separate dates for different areas of the province at this time and no extensions to the season are anticipated.
“The recreational fishing experience can vary throughout the province, and vary from year to year. In many areas this year recreational fishers have reported good success and reported catching cod that have been feeding on capelin.”
But for local fishermen, who have experienced the opposite, that’s just not good enough.
“I don’t understand why they can’t change it or leave it open longer — it’s like they think Newfoundlanders are going to poach it all or something,” McDonald said.
“Fish have tails — they swim, they move around,” Samson said. “Having the same season times in the south and up here just doesn’t make any sense.”
