Humpback tail drawing by Dawn NelsonWhale Release and Stranding in Newfoundland and Labrador

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Newfoundland and Labrador
Inshore Fishing Gear

CAN WHALE COLLISIONS BE PREVENTED? One suggestion is to make fishing gear easier for whales to detect by using sound devices on nets. These sound devices must be designed so that fish cannot hear them but whales can. Here are examples of Newfoundland and Labrador inshore fishing gear:

crab fishing gear Crab gear that was streaming from the tail of a large humpback that became entangled in the Laurentian Channel, on the southern Grand Banks. It towed the gear for 20 days before it was released off Bonavista on the northeast coast (see Newfoundland map).

JIGGER When a traditional lead jigger or a stainless steel Norweigian jigger is used, no bait is needed. It is lowered almost to the bottom and then drawn up and down. Cod are attracted and may be caught by the head, body or tail.

HANDLINE hook is usually baited with squid. At times a series of hooks with artificial bait is also attached to the line. A heavy lead weight keeps the bait near the bottom. Fishermen often tend a line on each side of the boat.

Cod trap being dried up This cod trap was a common way to catch fish in Newfoundland waters prior to the 1992 cod moratorium. This type of gear caught the most whales. Cod traps can catch to 40,000 lbs. of cod in one haul.

COD TRAP is a mesh box with a floor resting on the bottom. The top is suspended by many small floats and large buoys at the corners, sides and back. Each is moored by a heavy anchor. As cod fish follow caplin, they are diverted in the trap door by the leader which extends from the door toward shore. The average trap is 60 fathoms round and 15 fathoms deep with a 50-fathom leader. Traps are usually hauled twice a day by a crew working from a trap boat assisted by a dory. The door is closed first by hauling up a rope attached to the bottom front. Then the front corners are hauled up, and fish are gradually concentrated along one side or back by hauling in the mesh bottom. The catch is removed to the boat by a dip net.

SALMON NETS are made of nylon with many small floats along the head and a lead foot rope. Large buoys keep the net on the surface and heavy anchors hold it in place. Salmon are caught by their gills and removed without hauling the net from the water. Nets are 50 fathoms (1 fathom = 6 feet) long.

GILL NETS (for ground fish), made of monofilament, are similar in construction to salmon nets. Sunk to the bottom by small weights, the ends are marked by buoys. Nets are hauled into the boat to remove fish, then reset. Often three or four nets (each 50 fathoms long and 1 fathom deep) are joined together.

TRAWLS (long lines) have many short lines attached at regular intervals. Each line has a hook, usually baited with squid. Trawls are set on the bottom with a small anchor at each end and marked by buoys. They are hauled to the boat to remove the fish, and usually coiled in tubs to be rebaited ashore. Each line is 50 fathoms long; 20 to 30 lines are often set together.

Source: "Getting Along" by the Whale Research Group, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1984, P. 77

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