Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Assoc.

LFA 25 Fishermen Submit Proposals to ALSM Program

To determine harvester support for a submission to the Atlantic Lobster Sustainability Measures Program (ALSM), PEI lobster license holders in LFA 25 were invited to a meeting on January 18, 2010 to consider a sustainability plan and the financing options for retiring up to 34 licenses (the committed 24 and a further 10 to be pursued).

The proposed sustainability plan included the following measures:

· Increase the minimum legal size to 72 mm by 2014 fishing season

· Extend current lobster electronic data collection to 100% of harvesters

· Propose a grid system for reporting purposes

· Reduce ghost fishing by: using traps with effective biodegradable trap elements

· Record bycatches by: including reliable bycatch info in electronic data collection elements

The proposed financing plan to retire up to 34 Licenses @ $175,000 ($5,950,000) included the following:

· Request to DFO for up to $3m contribution

· Agreement with the Province for up to $3m loan

- Interest bearing at cost of borrowing (approx 5%)

- Maximum 15 years to pay back

- Provincial grant up to $150K annually to offset interest cost

- Repayment through reallocation of up to 2000 traps at initial cost of $100 per trap

The PCFA received approval for both of these project elements by a large majority of those in attendance at the meeting.

Sustainability Plan – 124 to 13 in favor

Funding Plan – 118 to 2 in favor

As a result of this support, the Prince County Fishermen’s Association on January 25, 2010 submitted a Sustainability Plan to DFO. This was followed by signed agreements with 8 additional license holders prepared to retire their lobster license prior to the 2010 fishing season. On February 2, 2010 the PCFA submitted their Funding Proposal to DFO and is now awaiting a response to both of their submissions.