Skip to content

Notice to Fish Harvesters - Personal Use Seal Fishery - Educational Observer Pilot 2026 - nf.26.034

Home
DFO Fisheries Announcements
Notice to Fish Harvesters – Personal Use Seal Fishery – Educational Observer Pilot 2026 – nf.26.034
March 5, 2026

FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA

NOTICE TO FISH HARVESTERS

nf.26.034B

Mar. 5, 2026

Personal Use Seal Fishery – Educational Observer Pilot 2026

DFO advises that during the 2026 seal harvest, there will be an opportunity to participate in a Personal Use Seal Fishery Educational Observer Pilot. The intent of this pilot project is to allow knowledge transfer within the personal use seal harvest. Anyone ages 12 and older can apply for an educational observer licence, including current commercial sealers who wish to observe a personal use harvest.

Information has been added to the personal use seal humane harvesting training course, offered through DFO, describing the roles and responsibilities of the educational observer and the accompanying personal use seal licence holder.

Anyone interested in applying for an educational observer licence is required to complete a humane harvesting course for personal use seal offered through DFO.

Personal use seal licence holders who have already completed the humane harvesting course, and plan to take an educational observer, can contact DFO to receive supplemental information about the pilot prior to harvest trips.

For more information, please contact DFO at the following email address: DFO.SealHumaneHarvestingNL-PhoqueslachassesanscruateTNL.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Notices to Fish Harvesters for all commercial fisheries are available online in the Fishery Notices section of the DFO Newfoundland and Labrador Region webpage at: https://www.nfl.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/en.

If you would like to have all Notices to Fish Harvesters for commercial fisheries sent to you directly by email, please contact: NLPRI@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

-30-

For information, contact:
Chelsea O’Driscoll
Senior Resource Manager
Resource Management and Indigenous Fisheries
Chelsea.ODriscoll@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
709-685-2942

Latest News

FFAW Calls for Minister to Scrap PA in 2026 Management as DFO Assessment Signals More Pain for 3K, 2J and 3Ps Harvesters

PROVINCE DELIVERS ON DEMAND FOR COMPETITION AND FAIRNESS

MEETING UPDATE FEB 16

PRICING SITUATION UPDATE: FEB 13

DELAYED! 3L Trinity Bay Crab(6A)/Cod Fleet Meeting - Clarenville

News Categories

Dr. Erin Carruthers

Dr. Erin Carruthers is the Science Director and Senior Fisheries Scientist with the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor), which is the labour union that represents the owner-operator fleet in Newfoundland and Labrador. The FFAW is committed to research and management that supports healthy oceans, fisheries, and coastal communities. Dr. Carruthers received her Ph. D. in Biology from Memorial University in 2011 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship with the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research. Before coming to Newfoundland, Erin worked as a Research Biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the St. Andrews Biological Station. Her current research program is co-constructed with fish harvesters and includes research on coastal fishing communities, collaborative longline and trap surveys, and best practices for the avoidance, handling and release of unwanted catch.