Canada opens personal-use mackerel bait fishery, extends commercial moratorium

CBC
·1 min read
Canada will allow fishermen to catch mackerel for bait, but it cannot be sold, traded or bartered. (CBC - image credit)
Canada will allow fishermen to catch mackerel for bait, but it cannot be sold, traded or bartered. (CBC - image credit)

Canada is opening a personal-use bait fishery for mackerel this spring while extending the moratorium on commercial mackerel fishing in Atlantic Canada and Quebec in 2024.

Fish caught under a bait licence are intended for personal-use and cannot be sold, traded or bartered.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a news release Thursday the bait fishery will help licence holders supply their other fisheries, such lobster, with bait without jeopardizing the ongoing rebuilding of the stock.

The commercial mackerel fishery was closed in 2022 after steep declines blamed on overfishing. It has remained closed ever since.

"The department remains firmly optimistic that the Atlantic mackerel stock can rebuild, and remains committed to supporting the future re-opening of the Atlantic mackerel commercial fishery," DFO said in the release.

The 470-tonne bait quota will be released in two parts to allow fishermen in different parts of the region equitable access. Mackerel arrive in different parts of the region at different times — first off southern Nova Scotia and later in Newfoundland and Labrador.

U.S. quota cut

Canada has lobbied the U.S. to impose a moratorium but the Americans have continued to allow a commercial harvest, albeit with progressively lower quotas.

Atlantic mackerel is a so-called straddling stock, which means the fish move into territorial waters of both Canada and the United States.

This year, the U.S. slashed its commercial quota by 76 per cent to 868 tonnes, an amount officials say represents mackerel caught accidentally in its menhaden and herring fisheries.

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