Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Assoc.

Notice to Fish Harvesters regarding North Atlantic Right Whales (2025):

DFO has released 2 updates in 2025 regarding NARW. Please click the links below to see the full notices:

2025 FISHERIES MANAGEMENT MEASURES TO PROTECT NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES IN CANADIAN WATERS

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION FOR FISH HARVESTERS: NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE SHALLOW WATER PROTOCOL CHANGES FOR 2025

The following is a summary of the changes that affect PEI fishers. Please refer to the above Notices to confirm details:

1. Shallow Water Protocol Lines: Starting in 2025, 2 additional fathom lines were added at approximately 5 and 15 fathoms in addition to the 10 and 20 fathom lines already existing. It is important to note that these management lines may not align precisely with the actual depth measurements found on various maps and charts. To minimize the risk of manual entry errors, each Notice to Fish Harvesters will now include a downloadable GPX file with the required coordinates.

2. Closures within the Shallow water Protocol area (inside the 20 fathom line): Closures will start with a 7 day closures rather than 15 days. This 7 day closure can be extended for an additional 7 days if an additional detection occurs in the first 7 days.

3. Shallow water Pilot Conditions: If a closure is triggered inside the Shallow Water Protocol area (inside the 20 fathom line) and the notice states that fishing is permitted for participants holding licence conditions for the Shallow Water Pilot the licence holder is authorized to fish in the area if the following requirements are met:

Traps must be set in trawls of at least 5 traps
A vertical line of rope with a surface buoy used to mark the gear must be attached at ONLY ONE END OF THE TRAWL
The attached buoy line must have an inserted DFO-recognized lower breaking-strength (LBS) gear (tested breaking strength of 1,700 lbs or less) AT A LOCATION OF 50% OR GREATER OF THE DISTANCE FROM THE MAIN BUOY TO THE TRAP (see image). Please refer to conditions for additional details.