Fisheries News January 1982
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I + Fisheries Pêches and Oceans et Océans RARY ERIES AND OUEM'g I.1OTI1k.QUE pF.ES ET OCÉANS Vol. 2, No. 1 January/February 1982 cotia-Fundy/Gulf Regions. 1982 Atlantic Groundfish Management Plan Announced The 1982 Atlantic Groundfish Man- It is hoped that Company quotas continue to be managed in this agement Plan entitles East Coast fi- will enable an improvement in fish manner in 1982, with the exception of shermen to catch almost 7 per cent quality, a better product mix, and a Labrador and the east and northeast more fish than in 1981. more orderly approach to harvesting. coasts of Newfoundland, where The plan, which outlines a man- Northern cod stocks, which began amounts allocated to the inshore agement strategy for the harvesting of rebuilding significantly following fishery have not been caught in recent such species as cod, haddock, Canada's declaration of the 200-mile years. flounder and redfish, allocates a total offshore fisheries zone in 1977, repre- Three additional groundfish stocks of 925,170 tonnes in 1982, compared sent one of the most promising areas - cod off southwestern Nova Scotia, with 866,400 tonnes in 1981. for continued growth. The 1982 Total greenland halibut in the Gulf, and Biological reports indicate that most Allowable Catch has been set at white hake in the southern Gulf - will stocks are continuing to rebuild, but 230,000 tonnes, compared with be placed under quota management that greater discipline in harvesting 200,000 tonnes in 1981. This level of in 1982 in order to provide greater as- must be exercised, both to avoid over- effort should enable further rebuild- surance that biological limits of har- fishing, and to better match catches ing. Some 15,000 tonnes of the TAC vesting are not exceeded, and will also with markets. has been reserved for later allocation, help in maintaining the economic via- The concept of a management plan and 120,000 tonnes has been set aside bility of these fisheries. was introduced in 1976 to more equit- as an allowance for the Newfoundland Also beginning on January 1, 1982, ably allocate the resource, with resto- inshore fishery. Vessels larger than vessels under 19.8 metres (65 feet) in ration and conservation of stocks as a 30.5 metres have been allocated length will be managed within a series predominant principle. The annual 92,500 tonnes, of which 5,250 tonnes of three geographic sectors, to bring plans have been developed through are designated for resource-short more order and discipline into the extensive consultation with represen- plants (those which do not own continued on page 2 tatives of fishermen's organizations, trawlers). The remaining 87,250 unions, processors and provincial go- tonnes of the offshore allocation have The purpose of Fisheries News is vernments, via the mechanism of the been divided among the various com- twofold; it informs the fishing industry Atlantic Groundfish Advisory Commit- panies with vessels over 30.5 metres in of the latest developments in Depart- tee (AGAC). lertgth. mental programs and policies, and The 1982 plan allocates quotas for As in 1981 the large non-Gulf-based assists in improving the lines of communication between industry and the first time to individual companies stern trawlers were excluded from government. involved in the offshore trawler fishing cod in the Gulf of St. Lawrence With these objectives in mind, we fishery. Under this system, the total thereby helping to sustain the eco- invite you to respond to any of the in- formation contained in "Fisheries amount of fish available to the off- nomic viability of the existing Gulf- News" or make suggestions of your shore fleet will be shared among the based groundfish fleet of more than own regarding content. vessels larger than 30.5 metres. There 10,000 vessels, consisting mostly of Please address all correspondence to: are 155 trawlers licensed in this cate- inshore and mid-shore boats. The Editor/Fisheries News gory. The company quotas will apply Fixed gear groundfish fisheries us- Department of Fisheries and Oceans only in 1982, and the results of the ing such gear as longlines, traps and Communications Division, P.O. Box 550 program will be evaluated before pre- gill nets, which were placed under Halifax, N.S. B3J 2S7 paring the 1983 Fishing Plan. quota for the first time in 1981, will 1+ ^`.,^°^`^ ^^ Tttird Troisième dass dasse Halifax, N.S. n ] Yl a(V 30° AM° / 71.° / /100. /90° ° "..° " 30" x," On Board SUBAREAS AND DIVISIONS Processing of OF THE NAFO CONVENTION AREA Shrimp Shrimp fishermen in the Gulf of Boundary ol Conyenhon Area St. Bound...Firs ot Sub Ire r Lawrence can expect to realize con- Round:tries of Donseins siderably higher earnings sav- Depth contour 100 1,1th (183 nit and fuel ings as a result of a project carried out this year by the Fisheries Develop- Ie ment Branch, Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The two-part project was aimed at increasing product value GREENLAND through grading, bagging, cooking, and freezing shrimp catch at sea and secondly at reducing fuel costs through the installation of a nozzle and new propeller. The vessel used for the demonstration was the "Jean Colette", a traditional 72-foot wooden shrimp trawler from Caraquet, New 00° 00° Brunswick. 2G The quality improvement aspects of the project have been underway since 1979 and were initially undertaken be- 211 cause the ungraded, iced shrimp ■•■ brought back from fishing trips lasting 2J up to 7 days was often of poor quality and realized low prices. A grader was AFIRADCIR SECTOR 1 installed in order to separate the large, OUF ter higher value shrimp, and a system of 3K bagging the shrimp in nylon mesh bags was introduced. This concept CANADA SECTOR 2 4S (4R has now been adopted by other ves- 3L sels in the area. The next step was to install refrigeration in the hold, and also a batch cooker. Finally, a blast freezer that could freeze about 200 3M pounds of shrimp in 25 minutes was 30 installed together with a -20°F. freezer 3N USA hold. Prices obtained for individually 4 1/5 quick frozen (I0F) shrimp were more than double those of traditionally iced shrimp. In view of steadily increasing energy costs, the installation of noz- 60 6E 6F 6G 6H zles around propellers of vessels' tow- ing gear has been demonstrated to produce considerable fuel savings 0. when compared to similar vessels L without nozzles. A suitable nozzle was harvesting operations of this fleet. The ing his sector, without such decisions installed on the "Jean Colette" to- three sectors correspond approxi- necessarily applying in another Sec- gether with a new propeller matching mately with each of the Department's tor. Licenses for this category of ves- the vessel and its engine. The results three administrative regions on the sels in 1982 will be non-transferable were excellent and indicated that fuel Atlantic Coast. The Newfoundland among Sectors. Specified overlaps savings of 17% or about $500/trip Region will administer Sector One will be permitted, so that vessels can could be achieved. Even more dra- (NAFO Areas 0, 2, 3KLMNOP5), the maintain their traditional fishing pat- matic; Bollard pull was increased by Gulf Region will administer Sector terns as much as possible. 39%. Two (NAFO Areas 4RST and 3Pn), The Sector Management concept is and the Scotia-Fundy Region will ad- already in place for such inshore fish- minister Sector Three (NAFO Areas eries as salmon, herring and lobster, For copies of the 1982 Groundfish 4VWX and 5). where a number of different manage- Management Plan write to the Com- The new approach will enable a Re- ment zones have been established munications Division, Dept. Fisheries gional Director General of the De- within each Region. and Oceans, P.O. Box 550, Halifax, partment to make decisions respect- N.S. B3J 2S7 2 Quality Improvement Funds Available meet standards set by the vessel certi- fication requirements, soon to take ef- Under Vessel Assistance Program fect. The assistance offered is 50 per- cent of the cost of materials and In mid-1981 Fisheries and Oceans - refrigerated water systems equipment, up to a maximum of Minister Roméo LeBlanc announced - superchilling systems $1,000 per vessel. that the vessel assistance program - all equipment and systems deter- Equipment and materials covered would be broadened. While the prim- mined to improve quality of under the assistance include: ary function would still be to assist in landed fish - covers on open boats to protect the construction of Canadian - assistance to convert to preferred fish from the sun and weather fishermen-owned vessels, changes fishing methods such as - pens, shelving, insulation and re- were also made to assist fishermen in longlining surfacing of vessel holds improving fish quality. - assistance to convert vessels to - replacement of existing fish han- Vessel conversions and modifica- fish for under-exploited or unex- dling and holding equipment with tions will continue, with assistance ploited fisheries. equipment of approved materials available up to 25 percent of costs - wash-boxes, bleeding tanks, gut- In addition to the above, the pro- when directed to improve fish quality ting tables onboard vessels gram has been extended to include or equip a vessel to convert to pre- - handwashing units and toilet facil- the purchase and installation of gut- ferred fishing techniques. Included ities ting machines. This is added to funds on vessels with sleeping ac- under this element of the program is commodation already made available to some pro- the fitting of such items as: vincial governments. Since funds under the program are - equipment and systems for hold- In total 8 million dollars have been allocated to this fiscal year the termi- ing the catch in chilled water set aside for the vessel assistance nation date is March 31, 1982.