Getting Started

Hello and welcome to the fisherman's net. This blog that I am creating is about situations that we as commerical fisherman run into. I have been in the industry for about 20 years, I made a good living for a long time and enjoyed doing it .I have a commerical clamming licence,but I also had an eel licence, a licence to set hooks for flounder. With these licences, I was able to do quite well. Then one day I get a letter saying that I am no longer able to fish for flounders, because of changes made by the Fisheries.Then they took my eel licence.Now on the Scotia Fundy Region where I have been working ,If we get stopped by the Fisheries, which happens a lot these days and if they find any clams in our catch that don't meet the requirements,we get a 500.00 fine.If we get caught the second time, which would be a nightmare for any of us,we lose our gear plus our truck ,catch plus a 800.00 fine.Our policy today is 0 tolerance,which means no under size clams.When you dig 80 lbs of clams each day,it is easy to make a mistake and the fisheries don't care.My  beef is why not try and help us with our fishing business.Most beaches along the Fundy coast are dig out. Some of the beaches have clams that don't grow because of soil erosion.Why don't the fisheries create programs to reseed these beaches to help us out? If you have similar stories feel free to join in.If we band together we may have a voice.