Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is releasing a set of new exploratory lobster fishing licenses to gain data on what could be a new fishery in the province of Quebec.
The DFO announced it is issuing the equivalent of 18 exploratory fishing licenses in Lobster Fishing Area 17, located adjacent to Anticosti Island in Quebec. The licenses represent a total fishing effort of 4,500 traps per year, and will be distributed between First Nations fishers in the area and fish harvesters in the North Shore, Magdalen Islands, Gaspésie, and Lower St. Lawrence regions, DFO said.
DFO is also issuing the equivalent of 31 new licenses in Lobster Fishing Area 19, located near the Gaspé Peninsula. The licenses will also be issued to a combination of First Nations and commercial harvesters, with a total annual fishing effort of 7,750 traps.
The department said the new exploratory licenses are part of an ongoing data acquisition plan for the lobster fishery in Quebec.
Historically, Quebec’s lobster catch has lagged behind the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. In 2004 Quebec caught 3,383 metric tons (MT) of lobster compared to over 25,000 MT in Nova Scotia. A decade later in 2014 the total had increased to 5,353 MT of the crustacean, still well below the over 51,000 MT caught by Nova Scotia.
By 2022, Quebec’s catch total had increased to 12,445 MT, and federal reports have shown that the lobster fishery in the province is healthy – and could be growing...
