LFA 24 NARW Closure UPDATE

Thanks to continued open dialogue with DFO, the PEIFA has confirmed a few important pieces of information regarding the current LFA 24 closure:

1. Day 1 of the closure is the day the NARW is detected. In this case, May 18, 2023 is Day 1 of the 15 day closure
2. DFO has also confirmed the following: “The season-long closure protocol continues to be implemented in waters deeper than the 20 fathom shallow water protocol line only.” Therefore, if a whale is seen again between days 9-15 inside the 20 fathom line it will not trigger a closure until November 15th, but a new 15 day closure will begin.

We have also been asked to remind fishers to pay close attention to the format of the coordinates provided by DFO which are in DMS format (000 00 00.000). This is different than DDM format (000 00.00) and will result in different lines on your plotter if they are input incorrectly.