February 15, 2013 — An estimated 500 million haddock hatched and survived in 2010, and have since grown to maturity, making the 2010 year-class the largest in recorded history.
The Poseidon Princess steamed through the storm toward the southwest shore of Nova Scotia at eight knots, bringing home 39,000 kilograms of haddock caught hours before on Georges Bank.
The wind was strong, the waves high and “a lot of stuff [was] flying around” inside the 65-foot boat during the difficult 14-hour journey, said captain Martin d’Entremont. But the mood was almost giddy – because of the record numbers of haddock that had grown big enough to catch on Georges Bank.
Last year was tough as haddock catches were down, says Claude d’Entremont, who has been in the fish business for 45 years and is co-owner of Inshore Fisheries in Lower West Pubnico.
But this year was eagerly anticipated. Mr. d’Entremont, his captain Martin and other fishermen saw an abundance of baby haddock in the water in recent years, and in the stomachs of other fish, such as pollock, that were being processed. An estimated 500 million haddock hatched and survived in 2010, and have since grown to maturity, making the 2010 year-class the largest in recorded history.
“It’s like 50 times the size. So where a usual year-class might be in the order of 10 million fish, this one is 500 million,” says Donald Clark, a fisheries scientist at New Brunswick’s St. Andrews Biological Station.
It is a bounty that will sustain the more than $20-million haddock fishery for at least six to seven years – a good-news story for an industry that is often struggling.
Haddock prices are slightly lower this year because of the abundance, but no one is complaining – much of it is being trucked to New England plants to be processed and sold to American consumers. The lower Canadian dollar is helping with that, too. Consumers are paying between $3.25 and $4 a pound for fillets.
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