Lobster fishermen scramble for new traps after thousands destroyed in storm

People inCape Breton are rallying to help lobster fishermen after stormy seas drove traps onto the rocks over the weekend, destroying expensive gear and killing crustaceans.

• Rough seas destroy traps, kill lobster in Cape Breton

The weather station on St. Paul Island reported a northwestpeak wind gust of 93km/h.

The hardest hit area was the northeastern coast from Dingwall to Glace Bay, according toPaul Gentile, the eastern Nova Scotiaarea director for theDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans.

The number of destroyed traps is in the thousands, the department has said. ByWednesday, between 2,000 and 3,000 replacement tags had beenissued, Gentile said.

The orange plastic tags from the department identify the traps.Fishermen are permitted 275 traps each.

Fishermen lose more than half their traps

Osborne Burke, manager ofVictoria Co-operative Fisheries in New Haven, said some fishermen lost as many as 150 of their 275 traps.

Burke spent Tuesday trying to round up replacement traps.

"We are looking at maybe 300 traps that we can source, that we are going to provide to the individuals that were hit the hardest," he said.

Burke said the co-op madearrangements with a seller in Chticamp to buy traps at a reduced price, which would then be donated to affected fishermen.

Used traps selling for as little as $5

New traps can cost between $50 and $75, but Burke said he expectedto pay between $10 and $12. He saidgood, used traps are being sold to fishermen for as little as $5.

Clayton MacKinnon, thewharf manager for Victoria Co-operative Fisheries, said heestimates fishermen are losing about $8,000 a day while trying to replacetraps.

The lobster season in eastern Cape Breton began last week, and "the first two weeks is the best fishing," he said.

"That's where you get most of your lobster and where they don't have their gear in the water, they are really missing out on the catches," he said.

"It's very challenging. I hear from the fishermen they are having a lot of trouble finding traps."

Monica Hogan of Neils Harbour said fishermen in her community, as well asNew Haven and Ingonish,didn't suffer too much damage, so they are donating extra traps to others in need.

"People north of Smokey are pulling together to help," she said.