CONSERVATION STRATEGY
Several significant changes to the fishing
regulations were announced in
1993 that affected the fishery for white hake
in 1993 and in 1994, including:
-increase in the minimum mesh size from 108 to
120 mm ( square mesh ) for
mobile gears ( less than 14 m ( 45 feet ) )
fishing in the Northumberland Strait
area.
-the minimum mesh size for mobile gears used
outside the Northumberland
Strait was increased to 130 mm ( square
mesh ).
-a regulation to control excessive
dumping/discarding of groundfish at sea
was introduced requiring fishing vessels to
land all groundfish caught
( with some species excluded ).
Following the closure of the cod directed
fishery ( 1/09/93 ), the minimum size
for mobile gears (less than 14 m ( 45 feet ))
targeting hake in the Northumberland
Strait was increased to 130 mm ( square mesh
). At the same time, the minimum
mesh size for mobile gears fishing hake outside
the Northumberland Strait was
increased to 145 mm ( square mesh ).
In 1994, DFO again required each fleet sector to
submit a Conservation
Harvesting Plan before beginning to fish.
Each plan was required to address
the following issues:
- protection of small fish
- by-catch controls
- catch monitoring
- fishing effort
- enforcement
Under the continuation of the cod moratorium in
1994, each fleet sector was
required to limit their cod by-catch to no more
than 10%. In consultation with
industry, DFO developed and implemented a cod
by-catch protocol, wherein,
if a given fleet sector exceeded the by-catch
limit of 10% in an area, the
groundfish fishery would be closed for ten
consecutive days. The closure
was then followed by a test fishery to determine
if the cod by-catch level in the
area was more or less than 10%.
To further minimize the harvesting of cod, DFO
implemented restrictive fishing
seasons for both the fixed and mobile gear
sectors. The purpose of this
management measure was to permit cod migration
to be completed before opening
the area to any other groundfish fishing
activity. As well, the fishing season for
mobile gear in the eastern portion of the
Northumberland Strait was adjusted to
open on July 15 to allow hake to spawn.
The fishing seasons that were in effect
in NAFO 4T in 1994 were as follows:
|
FISHING AREA |
FIXED GEAR |
MOBILE GEAR |
|
Gaspe and NB |
May 15-Oct.15 |
May 1-Nov.1 |
|
Magdalen Isl. |
May 15-July1 |
May 1-Nov.15 |
|
Bay St . Lawrence |
May 20-Nov1 |
May 15-Nov 1 |
|
W. Northumberland Str |
May 1-July20 |
June 1-Oct.31 |
|
E. Northumberland Str. |
July 1-Oct. 20 |
July 15-Oct. 31 |
|
Cheticamp |
July 1-Oct. 30 |
May 20-Oct. 1 |
|
N.E. P.E.I. |
July 1-Oct. 20 |
May 15-Oct. 1 |
As mentioned earlier, the TAC ( Total Allowable
Catch ) for white hake in
NAFO 4T in 1994 was reduced from 3600t to 2000t,
by recommendation of
the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (
F.R.C.C. ).
There were numerous closures for variable
lengths of time in the fixed gear
fishery ( vessels less than 65' ) for white hake
in 1994 because of high cod by-
catch:
|
CLOSURE DATE |
FISHING DATE |
OPENING DATE |
|
6/07/94 |
4T1, 4T2 |
n/a |
|
20/07/94 |
4T2, 4T5, 4T7 |
n/a |
|
24/07/94 |
4T2 |
n/a |
|
27/08/94 |
4T2 |
n/a |
|
29/09/94 |
4T2 |
n/a |
On June 23, 1994 the minister of the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans
announced the opening of the recreational and
subsistence groundfish
fisheries. The conservation measures
introduced included a daily bag limit
of ten groundfish and a fishing season from June
24 to October 30. A
survey was subsequently conducted which
determined that less than 50t
of hake were landed in the recreational
fishery in the southern Gulf.