Spring lobster fishing season to open Tuesday in parts of Maritimes

The lobster fishing season in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence will open onTuesday.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced onSaturday that lobster fishing areas 23, 24, 26A and 26B South will open on May 3 at 6 a.m.

That includes areas along the northeasterncoast of New Brunswick, the north shore of P.E.I., the western coast of Cape Breton, and partof the Northumberland Strait.

The season was supposed to start on Saturday, but earlier this week the DFO postponed the opening due to the weather and the need for dredging at many harbours.

Gerard Holland, who fishes out of North Lake and represents the harbour at the LFA 24 advisory board, said it was a "wise decision" to delay the opening to ensure fishermen are safe.

While dredging at North Lake hasn't fully been completed, Holland said fishermen at the harbour shouldn't have any problem setting out on Tuesday.

"There have been some years in the past that some harbours had dredging problems and the season was opened, and they kind of got left behind," he said.

"So I'm glad to see ... both our advisory board and DFO took dredging into account this year to make sure that it was going to be safe for everybody to go."