Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI) – July 7, 2022 - Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) today announces that fishing will be authorized for the 2022 Prince Edward Island (PEI) Bluefin Tuna season.
Season Dates
In 2022, fishery will open on July 15, 2022 and end on December 31, 2022 or until the quota nears 0 mt.
Management Measures
- Each licence holder will be issued one tag at the beginning of the season.
- Licence holders must land one tuna before or by September 27, 2022 to be eligible for a reallocation tag. Once the first fish has been landed a second tag can be issued at any time if the licence holder is scheduled to receive a reallocation tag. Licence conditions will only be valid until September 27, 2022. New conditions will only be issued to eligible licence holders.
- Licence holders eligible for a reallocation tag that having fishing effort but did not use their first tag by September 27, 2022, will be eligible to retain their first tag.
- Licence holders who are only eligible for one tag and have no fishing effort by September 27, 2022, will not be eligible to participate after the first opening.
- Licence holders in a partnership must land two tuna by September 27, 2022. A reallocation tag can be picked up at any time prior to September 27, 2022 once the first fish has been landed.
- Licence holders will only be authorized one vessel transfer in the 2022 season. One licence holder may transfer their vessel to another licence holder, then have the vessel transferred back. If the vessel is transferred to another tuna licence holder after this, there will not be new tuna licence conditions issued.
- Partnerships will be valid for the whole season, unless DFO is notified otherwise.
- Partnerships will not be authorized for vessel transfers.
- The Prince Edward Island Bluefin Tuna fleet will have access to a portion of the quota transferred from Mexico to Canada. The Mexican and Canadian quota’s will be combined for the 2022 season.
- The Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association will have a registration fee of $250.00 for all members holding a tuna licence, to cover the cost of the Mexican quota transfer.
- 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. Licence holders must select an At Sea Observer Company in the IVR system, even though an observer will not be deployed. Licence holders are required to hail-in even if no fish has been landed.
- Licence holders should note that having a Bluefin Tuna tag in your possession allows access to fish but does not guarantee your quota.
- Licence holders that are requesting a temporary dart tag, must record the dart tag number in Annex II, prior to fishing. Dart tags are non-transferrable.
- Licence holders will have to print licence conditions for 4RST and 4WD separately.
- Licence holders / operators are permitted to release any Bluefin tuna tagged with a scientific tag. Please refer to your licence conditions for details on this authorization.
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.
Logbook
Licence holders are required to submit a copy of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Log Document to the Dockside Monitoring Company that was hailed in to within seven (7) days following the end of the fishing trip when no tuna has been caught or immediately at the end of each fishing trip when a tuna is on board.
Tag Availability
Bluefin Tuna 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. Temporary dart tags will be free of charge, compliments of The Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association.