CanFISH Gear Lending Program Support
Publix supports the CanFISH Gear Lending Program
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“With the help of the Bycatch Solutions Hub, we’ve been connected with funders who are helping to promote fisheries sustainability through the use of safer fishing gear for wildlife in Canada through our CanFISH Lending Program.”
The CanFISH Gear Lending program is a fisheries assistance program that provides ropeless systems free of charge to fishers in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, Canada, during temporary closures designed to protect North Atlantic Right Whales. Through this service, CanFISH is protecting the Canadian crab fishing industry and the snow crab harvester’s way of life, while promoting safe fishing methods for the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW).
As of spring 2025, the CanFISH program supported 34 harvesters with on-demand (ropeless) gear at no cost. Since the program’s inception in 2022, over 340,000 lbs of snow crab have been caught using gear from the lending program, with a total of 930,000 lbs of snow crab has been landed in Canada using on-demand gear so far. The retrieval success rate was 96% in 2022 and 77% in 2023, with more than 500 buoylines removed from the water column. Through supporting operational costs, Publix, along with many other collaborators, is protecting harvester livelihood and ensuring the safety of NARW in the region.
Update
May 2025
CWF CanFISH Gear Lending program is currently prepared to support any harvesters impacted by closures in 2025. CWF also has an extensive trial program that allows for the collection of data on the on-demand system performance while receiving valuable feedback from fish harvesters on what criteria needs to be met for their fisheries, with over 1300 deployments being completed to date.
Support the CanFISH Program
Contact the CanFISH program to learn more about how to support their important work.