Justin Samanski-Langille

Volley of flares send flotilla into start of lobster season

ESCUMINAC - Lobster season is officially open in the waters off Escuminac and the area's fishermen were wasting no time getting to work.

Hundreds of fishermen were busy loading thousands of lobster traps onto their vessels long before the sun rose over the Escuminac Wharf Friday.

Earlier in the week, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced that the lobster season for area 23-D, which stretches from Neguac south to Escuminac, announced that the 2019 season would officially open at 6 a.m. Friday and close on July 3.

As the clocked ticked closer to the 6 a.m. start time, a volley of flares were shot up over the wharf, prompting boats to begin pushing off and sailing out to a holding area just outside the breakwater.

And at 6 a.m. sharp, the calm air was filled with the sound of diesel engines firing up as a flotilla of fishing boats sailed off into calm seas under the newly risen sun.

For Charles Richard, who has been running his own boat since 1990 and fishing pretty much all his life, days like these never get old.

"It’s great. I think we are going to have nice weather too, so it will be great to go out there."

Getting everything ready though isn't an easy process.

"We’ve been preparing for today since last spring. The last couple weeks have been really busy though. We have to haul the traps here, tie them up on the boat and wharf and then you wait until the day you can go out."

This year, the season in this fishing area was scheduled to begin on April 30, but a combination of poor weather and remaining ice delayed the start, as it has for the past few years according to Richard.

Despite the delay, Richard has a positive, but realistic, outlook on the season.

"It had been pretty good the last couple of years, but you can’t really predict it. The traps could be half-full tomorrow or empty, that just the way it is."

From now until early June, Richard and his crew will be out on the seas every day save Sundays to check on their traps, bring in their haul and re-load bait.

On the first day of the season, the focus in entirely on placing traps, with each captain relying on their own techniques to maximize their hauls.

Most have their particular spots the rush to get out to Richard said, while he aims to get at least 15 miles (24 kilometres) out from shore before laying his traps. 

As the waters warm up later in the season, Richard moves his traps into shallower waters closer to shore to keep up with more active lobster.

While opening day is obviously important to the fishermen who earn their living on the seas, it also plays a significant role in the community, with dozens of onlookers rising from the warm beds early to come out and watch the fleet push off.

"We are from Fredericton and drove up last night," said Michelle Russell, who came out to take in the spectacle with her sons Blake and Cooper. 

"We have a cousin who fishes up here and there is no school today, so we figured we would take the chance to come out and support the local community and experience it all for ourselves."

While she said the family has come out to the wharf before, this is the first time they have seen the season start, and they sure chose a perfect day for it with glassy waters, almost no wind and a beautiful sunrise.

"It’s breathtaking," she said.

"There is a stillness, but you can really feel the energy of everyone out on the boats and even on the people who came out to watch. It’s moving seeing people of all ages coming out to see this."

On Saturday, Lobster Fishing Areas 23 A and 23 B which stretch from Dalhousie to Stonehaven and Grand-Anse to Petit-Shippagan respectively, encompassing part of the province's northerly waters will start their season which runs until July 4.