DFO CLOSES THE BRAS D'OR LAKES TO HERRING FISHING

Dartmouth -- The Maritimes Region of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DF) today announced that the Bras d'Or Lakes will remain closed to herring fishermen this season. Fishermen traditionally harvest herring in April and again in the early fall (August and September), primarily for bait for use in other fisheries.

The Bras d'Or Lakes have a unique herring population, comprised of two groups, one which spawns in the spring and the other in the fall. For the past three years DFO scientists have advised (based on a number of negative signs including the reduction in the number of spawning areas over the years and an apparent absence of younger fish) that it would be preferable to have no fishery at all.

DFO and the industry have attempted to reduce the fishing effort over the past two years by first keeping fishing activity away from areas where herring spawn, then last year closing the "choke points" (areas in the Lakes where fish are forced to pass through a narrow channel where they are easily targeted by fishermen) to fishing activity. Fishermen have also increased the mesh size of their nets and used fewer nets. These measures have still not achieved the conservation goals desired, so the lakes will remain closed to herring fishing for the duration of the 2000 season.

Previous attempts to survey and tag Bras d'Or Lakes herring have met with only limited success. In an exercise that is a good example of DFO and industry cooperating to improve the scientific basis for the management of our herring resources, a small group of volunteer fishermen with special permits have been working closely with DFO to sample the migration. These volunteers are contributing their expertise and knowledge of the herring to help monitor the fish as they migrate to the spawning grounds. When the herring preparing to spawn have aggregated (come together in a large group) sufficiently, a small local purse seiner owned and operated by Kelly Fitzgerald will serve as the platform for a team of scientists to survey, and possibly tag, the spawning aggregations on the spawning grounds.

Results of this survey activity should provide fishery scientists, managers and fishermen with an estimate of the size of the spawning group.

The volunteer fishermen include Colin Dandy, Paul Kehoe, Pat LeBlanc and Lloyd MacInnes. These fishermen have volunteered their time, and are collecting samples at their own expense, taking length frequency measurements and providing DFO with details of their observations and collective knowledge.

Shelly Denny of Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife is collecting samples from participating fishermen and relaying them to DFO's St. Andrews Biological Station for analysis. She is studying the Bras d'Or Lakes herring to better understand the stock structure.

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For More Information:

Ken Rodman
Fisheries and Oceans
Halifax, N.S.
(902) 426-6074