PortandTerminal.com, November 14, 2019
Editor’s note: “Image of the Day” is a new feature that we have recently launched. We work in an amazing industry. Let’s celebrate its beauty together by sharing the incredible maritime imagery taken by our colleagues of what we do. Have a photo/video to share? Please send it to info@portandterminal.com along with the name of the photographer who took it (if available) so that we can give them the credit that they are due.
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA – “Dumping Day” is one of the most nerve-wracking and exciting days of the year if you happen to be a lobster fisherman in Nova Scotia. It is the day when the lobster fishing season starts and the boats set off with their traps.
Each area off the coast of Canada’s Atlantic provinces is zoned off into Lobster Fishing Areas and given its own time of year when lobster fishing is permitted. The goal is to avoid flooding the market with too much lobster all at once and to help maintain a sustainable fishery in the region.

There’s a lot to lose by not keeping the lobster fishery in good health. The lobster fishing industry is the engine that drives this picturesque region. In 2018 lobsters brought in $750 million Canadian dollars to the province ($566 million US).

As a gesture of support to the local fishermen, the Cape Forchu Lighthouse holds an annual Dumping Day send-off, typically on the last Monday of November. The event has grown in size to where it now attracts hundreds of locals.

At 5 a.m. visitors begin flocking to the Cape Forchu lighthouse for muffins and oatmeal as well as hearty servings of legendary bread pudding dribbled with warm caramel sauce. In Lobster Fishing Area Zone 34 where Yarmouth is located, Dumping Day happens on the last November of each year. The work for the fisherman in this zone is wet, cold and very dangerous. Deaths by drowning in the cold Atlantic are a fact of life in this community.

Other articles you may find interesting
Copyright © 2019 PortandTerminal.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.