Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Jason Colby  Perhaps its me but I'm always "confused" by one issue when it comes to lobster bait:
Every spring, Nova Scotia nets millions of pounds of caplin (a herring-family fish) for the purpose of extracting the roe for the Japanese market. The rest of the fish (and we're talking serious tonnage here) are disposed of in landfills. Why doesn't Ark and other lobster bait suppliers simply send up empty bait barrels and salt to get a free source of bait (only a trucking cost) that is otherwise wasted?...........JC |
Jason, The guys here are forced to use other herring species from time to time, and it is costly, messy, time consuming, and noty a very easily held commodity...it rots FAST, and it needs to be put in panty hose mesh, expensive and impractical, because of how quickly it deteriorates.
They also are forced to use many other things, like racks from cut houses, skates, bluefish, etc.
This again goes to supply and demand, profit ratios, and viability of the actual lobster fishery itself....The shipping costs and other factors would make it cost [prohibitive in Canada, not to mention it would also have to be dried and pressed into pucks of some sort, as I believe they also take the oil and scale chuff from those Capelin, but I could be wrong...
sometimes it would cost these guys to bury the pots and actually tend them...thus why you see such increased activity around the times the bugs will be popping. They have had to completely re adjust the way they fish, and it is almost impossible to make a living anymore. To take away the one thing(salted pogies from Ark) that actually produces well in the traps with limited loss and good soaking times would just kill alot of baymen and near shore boats that don't fish the shelf.
I know this fishery has been killed from overfishing as well, but lobsters are like the cockroaches of the ocean, they multiply and divide quickly! PS so do pogies. They grow amazingly quickly. Look at what the reduction measures in Jersey have done in 4 years. They still have bait boats there, though.