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Public Notice - CORRECTION: Personal Use Seal Fishery - Educational Observer Pilot 2026 - pn.26.001

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Public Notice – CORRECTION: Personal Use Seal Fishery – Educational Observer Pilot 2026 – pn.26.001
March 5, 2026

FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA

PUBLIC NOTICE

pn.26.001B

Mar. 5, 2026

CORRECTION: 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

Public Notices are available online in the Fishery Notices section of the DFO Newfoundland and Labrador Region webpage at Newfoundland and Labrador Region.

If you would like all Public Notices sent to you directly by email, please contact: NLPRI@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

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

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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.