P.E.I. fishers wary of new gear mandated by DFO to protect whales

Fishers on P.E.I. will likely be utilizing some totally different gear after they hit the water subsequent 12 months.

The federal authorities is making it necessary for fishing crews to make use of the brand new gear as of January 2023.

The ropes are designed to interrupt extra simply so whales will not change into entangled and endure accidents in the event that they swim into it.

Lobster fisher Charlie McGeoghegan stated it is inflicting some concern within the fishing neighborhood who wonders if the gear is secure to make use of, if it’s going to be misplaced extra simply and the way a lot it’s going to price to interchange.

The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Affiliation requested the Division of Fisheries and Oceans for an exemption for lobster fishers, however was denied.

“There’s quite a lot of unknown questions we simply really feel that DFO ought to have examined it earlier than they introduced the gauntlet down and stated you must have this in place,”  McGeoghegan stated.

“The whales aren’t in our depth of water the place we’re fishing lobster in P.E.I. I feel an exemption would have been correct.”

The PEIFA has obtained one million {dollars}’ value of drugs to assist crews transition.

Melanie Giffin, a marine biologist with the PEIFA, stated nobody desires to see whale entanglements, however it’s going to take quite a lot of time for folks to get used to the brand new gear.

“It will have been good to have extra time so we may work out what works greatest, sadly that is not the case.”