Tracadie, New Brunswick (NB) – July 10, 2023 - Fisheries and Oceans Canada is announcing the fisheries management measures for the Eastern New Brunswick fixed-gear licence holders fishing Atlantic halibut in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Division 4T.
The opening for this fishery is scheduled to take place on July 13, 2023 from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. the same day. This period may be modified due to inclement weather or other uncontrollable circumstances. If conditions do not allow for a July 13, 2023 opening, industry will be consulted before a new date is announced.
The maximum number of hooks per licence holder is 175.
The Atlantic halibut allocation for the Eastern New Brunswick fixed gear fleet will be 142.695 metric tonnes (t) for 2023. This consists of an initial allocation of 138.888 t, plus the 3.807 t uncaught allocation of 2022. Any overrun of the 2023 allocation will be taken on a one-to-one basis from the 2024 allocation of Atlantic halibut assigned to this fleet.
For the proper management of the offloading of catches, dockside monitoring will only be offered at the following landing ports:
- Pointe-Verte
- Petit-Rocher
- Stonehaven
- Caraquet
- Miscou
- Ste-Marie/St-Raphaël
- Petit-Shippagan
- Pigeon Hill
- Shippagan
- Le Goulet
- Val-Comeau
- Tabusintac
- Neguac
- Escuminac
- Cap-Lumière
- Aboiteau
These designated landing ports will be included in the conditions of licence.
Licence conditions will be available shortly in the National Online Licensing System (NOLS).
NEW in 2023
Harvesters are requested to document every encounter with specific discarded species, as listed in the licence conditions, by recording them in the comment section of the Fixed Gear (Groundfish) logbook. The species to be recorded include Winter flounder (blackback) less than 25 cm in length, Atlantic halibut less than 85 cm in length, Skate, Dogfish and Lumpfish.
4T5 / 4T7: Following a request from the Maritime Fishermen's Union (MFU), the department has authorized halibut fishing in areas 4T5 and 4T7 for the 2023 season.
Hail Out: Commencing in 2023 fishing season, fish harvesters from both Gulf and Quebec Regions will be required to dial a new telephone number when hailing out. The new telephone number 1-833-699-2013 (toll free) or 1-506-431-3223 (satellite phone only) will need to be used for new hails, modified hails and cancelled hails. This will direct fish harvesters to a call centre and replace the Vessel Hail Out System (Interactive Voice Recognition System (IVR) until further notice.