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Fishing

Fishing industry

Fishing is the principal activity on the Îles de la Madeleine. It supports the economy and shapes the Islanders' way of life. For the visitor, fishing is a subject of curiosity, a reason to explore, a chance to walk around the wharves, buy fresh fish for dinner and enjoy a pleasant chat with the fishermen. Early in the morning, the wharves bustle with activity. What a pleasure breathing the fresh salt sea air at the fishing ports when most people are still sleeping! For seafood lovers, fish markets and grocery stores offer a variety of fish and seafood. Here is a brief description of the different types of fishing common to the Islands.

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Shellfish/Crustaceans

Lobster

Every year in May, fishermen set their lobster traps off the coast. The lobster season, which runs for nine weeks starting on the Monday closest to May 6th, is strictly regulated. In the last decades, effective conservation measures were put in place in collaboration with the lobster fishermen. A total of 325 fishing licenses are issued for the Islands.  Each boat sets the same number of traps. That number was 300 per permit in 2005 and will be diminished by three per year (282 in 2011). Spawning females and lobsters inferior to regulation size must be set free. The total lobster catch reaches 2.5 million kilograms yearly.

Lobster fishermen leave port early in the morning to reach the fishing grounds where they haul their traps by 5 o'clock am. They empty their traps, then re-bait them and return them to the water. With their catch aboard, the fishermen return to their homeports in the afternoon to prepare for the next fishing day.

Since lobster fishing is so physically demanding, visitors should understand that it is difficult to give tours on a real lobster boat. However, fishing interpretation trips are available and the tour operators will be happy to accommodate you! You can also participate in the lively activities on the opening day of the lobster fishing season in May.

Snow Crab

This deep-sea shellfish has been fished commercially in the Islands for many years. Fishermen travel far from the Islands' shores to set large traps. The snow crab lives in very deep water, 45 to 275 metres. It is fished in April or May as soon as the ice is gone from the Gulf.  The season lasts only until the fishermen have attained their quotas. Fresh snow crab can be bought at many seafood markets and stores as well as in most restaurants.

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Molluscs

Scallops

Licensed fisherman may drag for scallops for a total of fifteen days, spread out from April to July. The scallops are usually shelled at sea. The "scallop" most people eat is actually the mollusc's adductor muscle.

Scallop farming methods in the Îles de la Madeleine now make it possible to market these shellfish year-round. The farming process begins with putting out collectors offshore from the Islands in October so that juvenile scallops (spats) drifting with the currents can attach themselves to them. After one year at sea, the collectors are brought back to the plant, where the scallops are sorted and suspended in the Havre aux Maisons lagoon. The temperate lagoon environment is rich in nutrients and encourages optimal growth. It takes from one to four years of growth in suspension for the spats to reach marketable size, depending on the type of product. Don't pass up the chance to taste the Islands' scallops, available in the best restaurants and fish shops.

Blue Mussel

Locally, the blue mussel was not exploited very much on a commercial basis because the market for it did not exist. Since the spring of 1984, the blue mussel has been farmed in the Islands' lagoons to meet the demands of this new market. The farmed mussel has many obvious advantages in quality compared to the wild mussel. Suspended in water while it grows, the mussel contains neither sand nor small bits of gravel, allowing it to grow faster and offering two to three times more meat than the wild mussel.

The technique used for farming mussels is rather simple. The mussel farmers put collectors into the water to attract and fix young mussels in compact groups. The collectors are put into the water in June and are taken out in September. By this time, the mussels are between 15 and 25 mm (.5 to 1 inch) long. They are then placed in growing rolls made from netted sacks and suspended in lagoons for one year before reaching commercial size (50 mm or 2 inches). Fresh mussels can be purchased in fish shops all over the Islands as well as in the grocery stores. Prepared mussels are also available, vacuum packed, canned or in chowder. Many restaurants offer mussels on their menu during the season.

Clams (quahogs)

Clams (quahogs) are harvested on the shores of lagoons. Even though shellfish digging is authorized almost anywhere in the Islands, some zones may be closed because of contamination.  

A new regulation, in effect since 2004, permits harvesting of 300 clams measuring a minimum of 51 mm (2 inches) per day per person. An experimental farming operation has been started at Cap Vert Bay in Fatima. This business has not yet reached the stage where the product can be commercialized, but it is possible to find clams for sale in the different fish and food markets on the Îles de la Madeleine.

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Fishes

Herring

This pelagic species was once used almost exclusively as a mash or bait in lobster traps.  For a very long time it was the mainstay of the Madelinot fishery, and was exported, salted or smoked, in huge quantities.

In the 70s, a drastic decrease in the stocks and the general opinion that the herring would never return to the Islands led to the destruction of most of the smokehouses in the archipelago. Towards the middle of the 90s, signs that the stock was rebuilding gave renewed life to the local smoking industry. Ten years later, herring landings have once more decreasing. At present there is a cottage-industry old-time smokehouse, that markets smoked herring in different formats. Make it a point during your visit to the Islands to savour these local delicacies.

Mackerel

Mackerel is a pelagic species found in large numbers (schools) off the coasts around the beginning of August. It is fished from almost all the Islands' ports until the beginning of autumn. Commercial mackerel fishing is done with nets. Fishing mackerel with rod and reel from a boat is a sport you can enjoy on day-trip excursions and with guided fishing excursions. You can also fish from the docks or from some spots on the shore.

Other Species

Groundfish, considered the mainstay of the Islands' fishing industry until the beginning of the 90s, were destroyed by overfishing. A moratorium has been imposed on ocean perch and cod fishing so that the stocks can regenerate to the point where the commercial fishery can be reinstated. 

These species of bottom feeders were once considered the main stocks of the fishing industry in the archipelago, but they have been over-fished.

Other groundfish species like Atlantic halibut, American plaice, yellowtail flounder and flounder are all commercially fished around the Islands.

Recreational fishing is generally authorized a few weeks per year, with a limit of 5 fish per person, for a maximum of 15 fish per boat (only 5 cod ), all groundfish species included, except for the Atlantic halibut, which must be put back into the water. To find out more about the opening dates and conditions, you must contact the Fisheries and Oceans local office at 418 986-2095.

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