Sipekne'katik First Nation's lobster study aims to assess impact of summer and fall fishing
CBC
In the darkness of an early morning, a lobster boat leaves the wharf and heads through Nova Scotia's St. Marys Bay into the open ocean. It rises on large waves as the wind blows through the open windows. Crew members talk and laugh as they drink their coffee.
The boat, Mamma Ain't Happy, is owned by Sipekne'katik First Nation and is fishing under food, social, and ceremonial (FSC) tags. The tags are the license under which the lobster can legally be fished and allow the band to harvest it for those purposes but not to sell it.
After each trip, the catch is brought back to the community for lobster giveaways that feed most of the families in the second-largest Mi'kmaw band in Nova Scotia.
But this boat doesn't just fish for people's supper. It's also a data collection site for a study on lobster conservation.
Megan Bailey, Canada Research Chair in integrated ocean and coastal governance and a professor in Dalhousie University's marine affairs program in Halifax, stands on the deck with a clipboard as traps are brought up from the ocean floor.
Each lobster is carefully examined by fisheries guardians from Sipekne'katik. They use calipers to measure the lobster's size, then squeeze certain places on the body to determine shell hardness, measured on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) scale.
Bailey takes notes and records these criteria, along with the sex of the lobsters. Those that are too small, soft or damaged are thrown back. Females with eggs are marked with what's known as a V-notch on their tail to let other fishers know not to harvest a breeder.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.