08/27/2018
The northern cod fishery in 2018 has been significantly better than anticipated by DFO Science this spring. The abundance of northern cod is not surprising to harvesters given the strong capelin fishery in July and the current good sign of squid. As a result, cod landings are ahead of projections.
In its 2018 assessment, it was clear that the limited northern cod fishery has no impact on the growth or health of the stock. Nonetheless, the cod quota for 2018 was cut by approximately 25% despite the strong objections of your Union.
Last Friday, August 24th, your Union wrote Minister Wilkinson requesting that the quota be increased to allow the cod management plan to continue with the maximum allotted number of weeks while also maintaining current trip limits.
If our request to the Minister is denied, it will mean that the northern cod fishery will close for two weeks in September, as opposed to the one-week closure that is currently scheduled.
We will post the Minister’s response to our request when it is received.