hery officials will conclude a lobster license buy-back program at the end of March after nearly three years of successfully reducing fishing capacity in Fortune Bay, the southwest coast and west coast of the province’s lobster fishery.The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) lobster sustainability program was first announced in November 2011 and will conclude 31 March. The program, designed to encourage the future long-term sustainability and economic prosperity of the lobster fishery, achieved its objective to increase incomes by significantly reducing lobster fishing capacity through voluntary lobster trap reductions and lobster license retirements.
The program has permanently removed 105,000 lobster traps from the fishery (36 percent reduction) as well as 266 lobster licenses (24 percent reduction).
The program improved the viability of other fisheries through the cancellation of about 700 licenses for other species owned by the lobster licenses who retired under the program, including snow crab and groundfish licenses.
“This program is a success because of the tremendous collaboration and effort that went into reducing capacity and making the lobster fishery more viable and prosperous for fishermen. Our government is pleased to invest in the fishery, and I am proud of what we have accomplished with our provincial and fishing industry partners,” said Gail Shea, Fisheries and Oceans minister.
The lobster sustainability program was developed by the FFAW-Unifor in an effort to secure federal funding under the Atlantic Lobster Sustainability Measures Program (ALSM). Total federal funding in Newfoundland and Labrador under the Atlantic Lobster Sustainability Measures Program was USD 9 million (EUR 6.6 million). The program cost was shared by DFO, the provincial government, and FFAW-Unifor on a 30-30-40 percentage basis.
