Herring Charity Sale
Two herring charity sales are taking place this Saturday in Steveston and James Bay.
In Steveston, The 12th annual herring sale, organized by the charity Fishermen Helping Kids with Cancer, will take place at the Harbour Authority on Trites Road from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In James Bay, Freshly caught herring from the Gulf of Georgia will be available for purchase at Finest At Sea Ocean Products, located at 27 Erie St in James Bay, starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
A $20 donation gets you around 20 pounds of herring.
Customers can bring their own containers or use provided bags to take home their fish.
The funds from both sales will be donated to B.C. Children’s Hospital, supporting young cancer patients.
The commercial fishing industry has raised almost $1 million for children being treated for cancer at BC Children’s Hospital since 2011.
The event’s costs are covered by fishermen and key fish companies, ensuring that all funds raised from the sale go directly to the children.
For more information go to fhkwc.ca.
Prawn Labels
The commercial prawn industry, in partnership with DFO, has created a traceability program for prawn tubs, to be implemented during the 2023 season.
Harvesters must attach a small label to all containers of prawn tails once they are packaged.
These labels must be ordered through the industry’s service provider, J.O. Thomas and Associates, before the season and any unused labels will be returned to the service provider at the end of the season.
The labels will have a unique identifier to trace the product back to the point of harvest and must have the date of harvest written on them in water-resistant ink.
This program only applies to tubs of prawn tails packed in liquid and frozen, not frozen-at-sea whole finger-packed prawns or live/fresh prawns.
More information will be sent to all license holders via Canada Post.
NOTE: There have been inquires as to whether tubbed shrimp would also be subject to the new labeling requirements announced for tubbed prawn tails. The short answer is no.
Prawn Manager Dillon Buerk says that for 2023, the new labelling program will only be for tubs of prawn tails, not for coonstripes, humpbacks, or other shrimp species.
As these shrimp species are not subject to minimum size limit, and as C&P advises that the majority of laundering concerns pertain to prawn tails, labelling efforts will be directed only at tubbed prawn tails for the time being.
Click this link for the full DFO notice.
NIL Report Reminder
As a reminder, all licence holders must meet the conditions of their 2022 licence before entering the 2023 fishery or requesting temporary reallocation of quota.
If a licence was issued in 2022 but not used, the licence holder must submit a Nil Report for the season.
Even if a fishery does not take place, a Nil Report is still required. The Nil Report form can be found on the DFO Pacific Region website.
Additionally, all fishing logs must be completed and submitted to DFO in accordance with the requirements of the 2022 commercial fishing licences.
If a logbook is lost or destroyed, a statutory declaration must be submitted.
The STAT DEC template can be found on the DFO website.
It’s important to note that transferring quota from a licence does not constitute fishing, therefore if no fishing occurred under the licence, a Nil Report is required.
For more information, contact the Salmon Data Unit at DFO.CSCMU-USCCS.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca or visit the DFO Pacific Region website.