Fall lobster fishery is underway

P.E.I. boats account for 32 per cent of fall fleet

The Hannah Grace joins most of the other boats leaving Miminegash Harbour Thursday morning in sailing south with its first load of lobster gear. Only one boat sailed north with its first load while two sailed straight out to start offloading. There are 711 boats in the fall fishery in Lobster Fishing Area 25, including 225 from P.E.I. - Eric McCarthy

MIMINEGASH

A crowd was on the dock with cameras, smart phones and cheerful waves as loaded lobster boats sailed out the mouth of Miminegash Harbour at 6 a.m. Thursday. They were there to see the fishermen off on setting day, the official start of the fall fishery in Lobster Fishing Area 25. The scene was repeated at wharves from Borden to Skinners Pond in the Northumberland Strait, and around North Cape at Seacow Pond and Tignish.

According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, 225 Prince Edward Island fishing boats share the Northumberland Strait’s fall fishery with 470 boats from New Brunswick and 16 from Nova Scotia.

Their fall season runs until October 10. This is the third and final year of scheduled carapace increases in LFA 25. A two-millimeter increase in the minimum carapace length has fishermen required to return all lobsters with a carapace length less than 77 mm.

An overcast sky but calm seas greeted the fishing fleet.