Longer lobster season in Campobello area worries whale-watching operators

While lobster season comes to an end in most fishing areas around the province, lobster fishermen in area 36 in the Bay of Fundy have a bit more time.

And the decision is raising concern among whale-watching operators.

The lobster season was extended  for the area between Campobello and Alma as a trial run to assess the impact and address concerns of fishermen in the area. 

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Sara Quigley, senior adviser for resource management with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said fishermen "had concerns about the timing of their season relative to lobster migration."

The concern was compounded by a lower trap limit and shorter season than some of the other fishing areas, she said. 

The season usually ends on June 29, but this year, the first in a three-year trial, it will end on July 9.  

During the trial, Fisheries and Oceans will monitor how the change in schedule affects catch rates and whether it creates conservation issues. 

Whale safety

Joanne Carney of Jolly Breeze Whale Watching said there's already a conservation concern.

"We were watching whales today, and it's a minefield of lobster traps where the minke whales are," Joanne Carney said after going out on a tour on June 23. 

Carney said a minke whale was entangled on June 22, but whale rescuer wasn't able to find it after the call came in.

She said it was the first time she'd heard of a minke whale entangled in the area. 

This year, minke and fin whales have arrived early. Usually fin whales arrive in July, after the lobster traps are out of the water, but that won't be the case now, Carney said.

"They're going to have a much harder time playing obstacle course around these lobster traps as they come into our area," said Carney. 

"It doesn't make sense, when the whales are arriving early to extend the lobster season and increase the entrapments in those lines."

Who was consulted

Quigley said consultation on the project happened mostly with lobster industry, the herring weir fishery, and the scallop fleet, but the whale-watching industry was not consulted, 

"If they weren't aware of the change they probably will be soon," Quigley said.

She said she didn't know if this change would affect the whale-watching industry or not.

"The fact that they weren't consulted beforehand doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't an opportunity to be consulted before a final decision is made," Quigley said. 

But the lack of preliminary consultation frustrates Carney.

"This is a shared commodity. It's not just the fisherman that rely on the ocean and what lives there."