Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Government has provided a fund of $61,253 to an exploratory turbot pot fishery. The project is an expansion of cod pot development work that has been done collaboratively by the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, the Marine Institute, the industry and the Provincial Government over the past several years.
The project will determine whether an Atlantic cod pot design can be adapted and modified to capture commercial quantities of turbot. The successful completion of the project may provide an opportunity for small inshore vessel operators in the White Bay and Notre Dame Bay regions to access the turbot resource in near shore waters, which would reduce the cost and risk of fishing further offshore.
Robert Verge, Managing Director of the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, said that the turbot potting project is one of many projects that the centre is undertaking today in the area of sustainable harvesting. He added that this gear will provide the fishermen to fish an additional species, while doing it in a very responsible way.
Everett Roberts, a fisherman from Triton, was the driving force behind the project, as he wanted to explore ways to improve fishing opportunities for himself and the 300 plus inshore vessel operators like him. The collapse of groundfish stocks in the 1990s had a significant impact on his area, as it caused local fishers to concentrate their efforts on snow crab.
