Striped Bass Fishery?

The mackerel fishery is still closed, and striped bass are in abundance.  Also, mackerel are still being fished commercially in US waters – unfair and possibly detrimental to mackerel stocks. Some fishers have suggested that striped bass are impacting the mackerel population.  Suggestions have been made to open a commercial striped bass fishery for both bait and human consumption.  I asked questions on November 21, 2023 on these topics.

Hansard-21 November 2023 (PDF) Transcript starts on page 20 of 62 (page 2147 in Hansard).

Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald.

B. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Island fishers are still not allowed to commercially fish mackerel. Mackerel don’t respect international boundaries and quite often go down into the shared waters with the United States where US fishers are allowed to fish mackerel.

It’s not only unfair, but it’s most likely detrimental to our mackerel population that US fishers can harvest mackerel while PEI fishers can’t.

Commercial mackerel fishery

A question to the Minister of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture: Holy mackerel, minister. What are you going to do to address this issue?

Speaker: The hon. Minister of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture.

Hon. C. Deagle: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’ll try to answer that question.

Yes, I understand it doesn’t quite make sense because it’s the same stock and it travels, obviously, in the winter, and then the US fishes it. We’ve relayed that. I know the federal minister in DFO is aware of that and I know they’re working on lobbying the US government on aligning with us to close that fishery as well, to make sense.

Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald, your first supplementary.

B. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the equation, our Island fishers, like lobster fishers, are having to import food-grade fish to use as bait in their lobster traps and they’re paying record prices.

But our waters here on Prince Edward Island seem to be full of striped bass and fishers believe that the striped bass could be used for bait, but they also may be having a detrimental impact on the mackerel population.

Another question to the Minister of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture: Minister, our mackerel are taking a striping. What studies have you commissioned or lobbied for to determine the impact of striped bass on mackerel in the waters off of PEI?

Speaker: The hon. Minister of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture.

Hon. C. Deagle: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

We haven’t commissioned any reports. DFO would conduct the studies on this. I believe striped bass is currently in the cautious zone, which means it can’t be used as a commercial fishery. There’s a recreational fishery, but I think DFO’s latest report they did was in 2022 and it was still in the cautionary zone, so it can’t be used as a commercial fishery right now.

Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald, your second supplementary.

B. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’m looking for action from this minister. We see that the striped bass recreational fishery is thriving. The commercial fishers I’ve spoken to, they would like to fish striped bass. They could be used as bait. They could be sold for consumption. I know the minister is working with the federal government, but let’s not take no for an answer.

Question to Minister of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture: Minister, are you going to get off your recreational bass and pursue a commercial striped bass fishery here on PEI?

Speaker: The hon. Minister of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport and Culture.

Hon. C. Deagle: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Obviously, commercial fishers would like to fish it, but if the science and DFO says that there’s not enough fish to support that, then we can’t just fish it until it’s all gone because we need a healthy ecosystem. We can’t just have lobster. There has to be a number of species for a healthy ecosystem. DFO has the science in 2022, their latest report, that says it’s in the cautionary zone. If it’s in the cautionary zone, it can’t be fished commercially.

Thank you, Madam Speaker