GARNISH AND GRAND BANK, NL - This year’s inshore fishery in Fortune Bay is underway with the crab season commencing a week ago, on April 9, and the lucrative lobster fishery opening on Saturday, April 21.
The windy weather kept many of the smaller boats in port for much of the first week but the larger mid-size vessels were successful in already catching most of the reduced 2018 crab quota they’re entitled to.
This week the harbours at Garnish and Grand Bank were lined with colourful lobster pots and gear all ready to load aboard the different size lobster fishing crafts which will leave their respective ports this weekend.
Fortune Bay is without a doubt the hub of the provincial lobster fishery, accounting for approximately 40 per cent of the total catch in the province the past five years or more.
Garnish can boast of being the “lobster fishing capital of Newfoundland and Labrador” with close to 50 lobster licences being fished out of that port. With each licence entitled to set 185 pots or cages this means more than eight thousand pots will be fished out of Garnish again this year.
The past few years have seen record prices being paid to our local lobster fishers with many of them averaging close to $7 per pound during the 2017 season for the tasty crustaceans.
