SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The spring lobster season has been extended and will now close on July 4.
P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association executive director Ian MacPherson confirmed the four-day extension Wednesday afternoon.
“The request went in a number of weeks ago,” MacPherson told The Guardian in a phone interview. “Typically, how the process goes is a request in writing needs to go into DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) requesting an extension.
“Then that works its way to the DFO channels and, ultimately, the minister makes a decision as to whether the extension is either accepted or rejected or another date is chosen.”
P.E.I., New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec fishers are affected by the extension.
“The southern part of the Island, southeast, is LFA 26A, and we share those waters primarily with Nova Scotia, a little bit with New Brunswick,” said MacPherson. “The north side of the Island is LFA 24, so those are the two areas that are fishing right now on Prince Edward Island.
“LFA 23 is for northern New Brunswick.”
MacPherson added area LFA 25 is a fall fishery in Prince County, and those fishers are not affected by this as they are not fishing now. MacPherson said roughly 1,000 of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association members are fishing now, and 250 fish in the fall.
Asked to describe this year’s catches, MacPherson said it sounds like the catches have been “steady”, but he has no formal data, which won’t be available for a couple of weeks.
