Dear editor,
It’s been 18 years since the cod moratorium. Fishermen are taking up their crab pots not because they have their quota, but because there is no crab to catch.
On July 8, I listened to an interview John Furlong did on the Fisheries Broadcast with fisherman Larry Pinsent and crab scientist Earl Dawe on the collapse of the crab stocks.
When asked the question, "what is causing the collapse," no one had the answer.
Ever since the cod moratorium, we have been fishing the crab species to the maximum, and as with everything in the ocean, there is only so much, and if you keep taking out without managing it properly, this is the result.
Besides fishing it to the maximum, it has also been fished when there is an abundance of soft shell, and fishermen will not report it because the Department of Fisheries and Oceans might close it down. Anyone that knows anything about crab knows soft shell is next year’s crab, and is also very delicate when handled and prone to large mortality rates when returned to the water.
The other problem is that the 200-plus crab fishermen that have shrimp licenses will go out and drag the bottom of the crab grounds. D.F.O. shuts down an area for soft shell crab and the next day you are allowed to go in the same area and drag over the bottom.
How many times have I made the statement, “Will we never learn from our past mistakes?” Our fishery will never come back until we learn to manage it properly by the fishermen themselves.
(Retired) Capt Wilfred Bartlett
Brighton, NL
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