MONCTON, NB, July 18, 2019 /CNW/ - As part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's and Canadian Coast Guard efforts to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale, fishery officers and the Canadian Coast Guard will be spending three days searching for and retrieving lost fishing gear, known as ghost gear, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Beginning today, fishery officers from throughout Atlantic Canada and Quebec will board one of five Coast Guard vessels to comb areas of the Gulf with the highest reported gear loss. Reporting lost fishing gear has been a licence requirement for all fixed-gear fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence since 2018.
Vessels on the water will have air support from a Coast Guard helicopter and Conservation and Protection surveillance aircraft to help locate gear floating on the surface.
The operation will take place during daylight hours on July 18, 19 and 20, after which the Coast Guard vessels are scheduled to resume regular operations.
Depending on the amount of gear retrieved, ships may unload at the following locations:
- Caraquet, NB
- Souris, PEI
- Shediac, NB
- Chéticamp, NS
Due to safety and security concerns, no ride-along opportunities will be provided.
SOURCE Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada
Steve Hachey, Communications Advisor, Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Gulf Region, 506-851-7045, [email protected]; Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 613-990-7537, [email protected]
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