Few lobster fishermen gathered beside the Barrington causeway in southwestern Nova Scotia on Friday June 20 to protest the scallop draggers as they feel are damaging lobsters. According to the fishermen in last season among their catch, there were as many as eight per cent of their catch had deep gouges and damage to the tops of their shells, mostly in lobster fishing area (LFA) 33.
Dr. John Tremblay, head of the lobster group with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, told that the study indicated that the damage that’s been reported this year could mostly be attributed to tropical storm Noel that passed through the region last year. The study conclude that the same type of damage was found in lobsters in areas where scallop dragging is not occurring, but that were affected by the storm.
Shelburne County fisherman Kevin Ross, informed that the kind of damage one could see if a scallop rake passed over the back of a lobster. Dave Bishara, acting area chief for the conservation and protection of South West Nova Scotia, told that there is evidence of damaged lobsters, not just in that area but witnessed all the way up the entire coast. Therefore, the lobster fishermen demand to stop scallop draggers going into the sea.
Lobster fisherman Michael Newell said that they want to see an impact study done on what the draggers are doing to the area. He told that lobster is the only thing that drives this part of Nova Scotia and if they ruin us it is done we will become a ghost town. Cecil Newell said that the fishermen just want the DFO to listen to them. He opined that eight per cent of 30,000 lobsters is a lot of damaged lobster.
