submitted.
Representatives for gaspereau fishers in Yarmouth County feel they are being ignored by The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Nova Scotia Power.
DFO recently announced measures to protect stocks in the gaspereau fishery by limiting the time to fish and ending the season early, but the reps say it won’t help.
Tusket River Gil Net Association Rep Troy Doucet says the problem lies with Nova Scotia Power’s fish ladders that allow the gaspereau to move through their dams in the Tusket River area.
“They changed a ladder that is upstream at Raynard’s dam, we call it Raynard’s Lake, that ladder was built in 2011, to this day that still does not work,” says Doucet. “It passes minimal fish, they know that and nothing has been corrected.”
He says they have brought their concerns to DFO, but have not seen suggestions they make considered in a meaningful way.
submitted.
When Nova Scotia Power blocks a river, DFO says they must provide fish passage. Tusket River Gaspereau Dip Net Association Rep George Emin says gaspereau stocks saw a massive loss the year the ladder at Raynard’s dam was built. He says stocks went from 800,000 passing through at the Raynard’s dam to 2,000. In the same year, he says Nova Scotia Power took on the responsibility of fish counts and have not released the number of fish passing through since.
Emin says it’s like the fox guarding the henhouse.
He offered a suggestion to help replenish fish stocks: leaving the gates of the dams open.
“Leave them open so the fish can migrate this year, it would be much better for the fish, the ladder can only handle so many of them,” “This way, if the gates were left open this year the fish would get up there in one shot, get up to the dam, it would be wide open. They can just zip right through and get up there to spawn.”
He says they want the gates open until the main dam project is complete, even though it would hurt their catches.
He adds the future benefit would outweigh the losses of one season.
Nova Scotia Power is currently closing the gates of their dams in the area to fill the lake, hoping it will fix the problems with the ladders.
Fishers are dealing with garbage in the Tusket River. There are also issues with illegal fishers and predatory animal species.
