Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI) – July 7, 2022 - Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) today announces that eligible and qualified charter operators will be authorized to catch and retain bluefin tuna for the 2022 Prince Edward Island (PEI) bluefin tuna fishery. The catch and retain charter fishery for bluefin tuna will only be allowed in areas 4RST and 4WD, as indicated in the conditions of licence.
Season Dates
In 2022, the fishery will open on July 15, 2022 and end on October 31, 2022 or when the quota nears 0 mt.
Management Measures
- Licence holders will be authorized to have a maximum of one fishing trip per calendar day.
- Fishing will be carried out by rod and reel only. A maximum of four fishing rod lines may be in the water at any given time during tuna fishing activities. Lines shall be tended to at all times and each line shall not have more than one hook attached. When a bluefin tuna is hooked, all remaining lines must be removed from the water.
- The fishery is subject to 100% dockside monitoring.
- The fishery is subject to 100% Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) coverage; therefore, the licence holder/operator must notify Conservation and Protection at least 72 hours prior to departure in order to have an EMS installed on the vessel.
- For licence holders to hail-out, they must call the Vessel Hail-out System at 1-800-561-2467, at least 3 hours prior to departure for any fishing trip.
- All Bluefin tuna shall be tagged with a DFO issued commercial tuna tag immediately after the fish has been caught. At least one (1) valid unused commercial tuna tag issued to the licence holder/operator shall be onboard the vessel before commencing a fishing trip.
- Licence holders participating in the catch and retain fishery are not eligible to participate in a partnership for the commercial fishery.
- Licence holder/operator shall only use the initial tags issued under the PEI Commercial Tuna Harvesting Plan. Tag transfers are not authorized.
- Licence holder/operator holding a Catch and Retain Charter Tuna licence, will not be authorized to transfer the vessel named in the licence to another commercial bluefin tuna licence holder.
NEW management measures in place for the 2022 fishing season
Mackerel Bait
Licence holders are permitted to catch and retain 20 live mackerel per fishing trip for bait purposes. This will be reflected in conditions of licence.
Discarding Waste
In 2022, all commercial fisheries in Canada have a new condition of licence relating to the discharge of garbage from Canadian fishing vessels. The licence holder/operator is prohibited from discarding in Canadian fisheries waters from their vessel any time that may be harmful to fish or fish habitat.
New licence condition
The licence holder/operator is prohibited from discarding in Canadian fisheries waters from their vessel any item that may be harmful to fish or fish habitat including but not limited to plastics, ropes, fishing gear, garbage bags, fuel, oil, rags, glass, bottles, metal, extruded polystyrene foam (e.g. Styrofoam), and tires.
Refer to the Notice to Fish Harvesters sent on April 7, 2022 for further details: Commercial fishery requirements.
Tag Availability
Tags and temporary dart tags will be available at the DFO PEI Area Office from 8:00am to 4:00pm, on Monday through Friday. There will be a maximum of one dart to every Bluefin tuna tag, depending on availability.