Obstruction of Escape Mechanism (Clarification)

A “parlour” is defined as each separate compartment or holding area in a lobster trap other than the baited entrance location where the lobster first enters the trap.

No person shall fish with or have on board a vessel a lobster trap unless that lobster trap has, in the exterior wall of each parlour, and not more than 76 mm from the floor of the trap, at least one unobstructed rectangular opening (i.e. escape mechanism) that meets the requirements set out in table 2. The placement of any material in the parlour of the trap which obstructs access, in any way, to the openings is prohibited.

Management measures to minimize interactions with North Atlantic Right Whales

The Management measures to minimize interactions with North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) can be found at the following address: http://dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/commercial- commerciale/atl-arc/narw-bnan/management-gestion-eng.html.

Table 1: Key Management Measures in 2021 in Lobster Fishing Areas 23, 24, 25, 26A, 26B

See full notice above for complete table

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Height and Length of Escape Mechanisms
The height of the escape mechanism as indicated in Table 2 needs to be adjusted according to the minimum legal carapace size in effect in each LFA (refer to Table 1 for minimum legal size).

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For information on restriction on the movement of lobster licences you can refer to the Commercial Fisheries Licensing Policy for Gulf Region that can be found at the following link:http://www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Gulf/Licenses-Delivery/Commercial-Fisheries-Licensing-Policy.

Daily closed time
The daily close time is from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. in LFA 23 and LFA 25.

Transit Corridors

The transit corridors remain in effect and a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) is required (every 5 minutes) if using the transit corridor. The corridor allows fish harvesters to transport their catches through that area to reach their homeport avoiding the use of the smack boat. For this reason, a validity period is added to LFA 23D licences from the date of issuance to June 30. The opening and closing of the season will remain as indicated in the Fisheries Regulations or as announced in a Variation Order. The coordinates for the corridor are identified in the Variation Order and the licence conditions of those using the corridor.

Logbook

Licence holders that will not be using an ELOG are still required to use paper logbooks and submit them to DFO on a monthly basis as in previous years. The list of paper logbook suppliers is available at the following Internet address: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/sdc-cps/nir- nei/log-suppliers-eng.html.

Before you go fishing
The Department has assembled a list of requirements and documents harvesters will need before they

start fishing. This list is available at: http://www.glf.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Gulf/Before-start-fishing