During a recent day trip to the picturesque port of North Rustico, one of the things that stood out loud and clear was the number of deep sea charter boats.
With the spring lobster season long over, many fishermen in this busy summer tourist destination supplement their income by taking tourists deep sea fishing. Now, Island tuna fishermen are also wondering whether they can earn some extra money with a sport fishery.
The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are looking at a sport release Atlantic Bluefin fishery. Through a draw, two teams of ten boats each will each tag and release 25 tuna. One team will work in the waters off the eastern part of the province while the other will be off the western tip. Each team will be paid a total of $50,000.
The tagging will begin in September and the fish will be marked in the water along the vessel rather than be brought aboard the boat. Barbless hooks will be used to minimize stress to the fish.
The tagging will be done by a team of scientists led by Dr. Mike Stokesbury of the Ocean Tracking Network at Dalhousie University and Dr. John Neilson for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the project. They are hoping the data collected from the electronic tags will attempt to answer the vital question – what impact would a sports fishery have on Bluefin stocks and, by definition, the future of the commercial fishery.
Pat O’Neill, a former executive director of the fishermen’s association who is now a consultant, has already done some research on the issue. He is optimistic about what he has seen so far. The commercial fishery can be closed on relatively short notice when the quota is reached. A live release fishery would not be subject to the quota system since no fish are actually taken out of the water, the season would be more controlled.
He remains confident a sports and the commercial fisheries could co-exist. Most of the commercial fish are sold to the Japanese market. There is already a live release program for Atlantic salmon that has been in place for several years and O’Neil said there seems to be few problems.
Meanwhile the Island commercial tuna fishery will open October 4. The Tuna Advisory Committee of the Fishermen’s Association decided on the fall opening after surveying fishermen through a questionnaire the fishery will continue to follow a 5-day per week fishery as well as limiting fish harvesters to one fish per day.
