Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Assoc.

Celebrations all around today, October 4th, 2014 with the safe return of the Halibut tag that was floating North of PEI since Weds!

A huge thanks to Captain Jim Purdy, with the Canadian Coast Guard and his crew; Dave Doucet and Rex Barnes of the Pointe Caveau for finding the tag this afternoon using their frequency detecting equipment!!! They were kind enough to let me take a picture of them and the tag (see attached). The Pointe Caveau was on-route and took the time to locate the tag.

PHOTO TAKEN OCT 4TH, CAPTAIN JIM PURDY & CREW; DAVE DOUCET AND REX BARNES OF CCG POINTE CAVEAU HOLDING THE RETRIEVED HALIBUT SATELITTE TAG

Many thanks to local fishers who took interest in finding the tag and thanks to Louis Richard, DFO C&P and Barry Tuplin, Canadian Coast Guard with the Dudka and Tommy Morrissey with the Canadian Coast Guard Souris for connecting us with Captain Purdy and his crew. Special thanks to the Tony Carter, fisherman from Morell who volunteered his time, vessel and equipment to assist in tagging that halibut back on November 16th, 2013 and his crew, many with the PEIFA Groundfish Advisory, and our Masters Student Travis James and last but not least our Chair Michael MacDonald for all his time on this project throughout the year.

Also to note, today off North Lake, two more halibut (Tag C measuring 131cm and Tag D measuring 163cm) were released into the water with the same type of satellite pop up tags which are programmed to pop off in August 2015….Stay tuned. All of this data collection is contributing to new and important research on the life history & genetics of the Atlantic halibut in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thanks again to all of you who assisted with our first tag and continue to support the project.