Prince Edward Island lobster fishermen say they’re facing a new threat to their livelihoods – cruise ships in the Northumberland Strait.
“They’re tearing up our gear,” says Keith Paugh, president of the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association and a fishermen who has lost gear himself. “But others have lost a lot more than I have,” he says.
Paugh estimates that during the current lobster season, Aug. 16 to Oct. 16, approximately 20 cruise ships have come through the Strait.
“They come down in the early morning before daylight, chopping off the buoys,” he says, adding that most of them are headed for Charlottetown or Summerside. “We’ve asked that the ships travel by way of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and avoid us altogether.”
What’s the cost?
“I don’t know what the total is,” Paugh says. “But you figure a $100 loss for one trap. There have been a lot of traps lost; I can tell you that.”
He says that fishermen have complained to Transport Canada. “They have supposedly contacted the ships’ agents who have in turn contacted the ships.”
Paugh concludes, “This has created problems in more ways than one, and fishermen here are upset, really upset.”