There are 11 fishing sites along the Lower North Shore of Quebec from Sept-Iles to Blanc Sablon and according to the DFO, fishermen fish three days a week, for 13 weeks, on their fishing grounds using conventional gear on traditional dates. These three days of fishing is funded exclusively by the sentinel program.
The fishermen are allowed to sell their fish locally and keep the cash for themselves.
Mr Etheridge said cod was the main sentinel fishery with prices at 30 cents per pound, compared with capelinand herringat seven cents, mackerel at 12 cents and lumpfish at $2 a pound.
But prices this year are way down compared with other years.
“I love fishing,” he said.
“Fishing is my life. I’ve been fishing since I was a boy, even though it’s hard to get up and go sometimes, but we still gotta go.
The fishermen involved in the sentinel fishery are required to keep a log describing the gear used, fishing site, fishing effort and record the weight and size of every species caught.
Although the fishermen of Bradore Bay brought back 200 pound of cod on the day the Pen stopped in, they said normally it’s three times that.
“The last two years the fishing has declined — we have to go 11 miles out to where we normally fish on our trawls, we never seen the fish like this, this small,” Mr Etheridge said pointing to a small slim cod fish he just filleted on the splitting table.
While the fishermen filleted the cod that was previously logged and recorded aboard the boat, hundreds of scavenger gulls and egrets flew over their heads and perched on bulwarks nearby to snatch the leftover bones and fins as the fishermen flicked them overboard to make room to fillet more cod.
Because of their love of gearing up their boats and braving the sea all summer long, the fishermen of Bradore Bay intend to continue fishing as long as they can.
“However, the cod in the last two years are noticeably smaller,” said Mr Etheridge.
info@northernpen.ca
.jpg)
