It didn’t take long for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to hit the pause button on the Atlantic mackerel bait fishery, even though the total allowable catch (TAC) has been increased three-fold from 2025.
Federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson announced on July 3 that the 2026 TAC for Atlantic mackerel will increase to 1,500 tonnes, up from 500 tonnes last year. The TAC includes 1,400 tonnes for personal-use bait, 60 tonnes for bycatch, 20 tonnes to support scientific sampling and 20 tonnes as live bait for the bluefin tuna fishery.
This is a single year decision that will be applied to the 2026 fishing season only and supersedes the 2025–2026 management approach. The Atlantic mackerel commercial fishery closed in 2022 to help the stock rebuild. A small personal-use bait fishery opened for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
DFO is maintaining the commercial fishery closure, much to the chagrin of the Newfoundland and Labrador Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW-Unifor), which has called for an urgent reconsideration of the 2026 mackerel management decision.
“At this point, we are at a loss as to what additional information can be provided to demonstrate the increase in mackerel around Newfoundland and Labrador. Harvesters are frustrated with this latest decision,” said FFAW-Unifor Inshore Director Sherry Glynn.
While this is the third year of the personal-use bait fishery, Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters have seen very little benefit from that quota, taking just two per cent and five percent of the allocation in each of the last two years, said the union.
“Mackerel is not used for bait in Newfoundland and Labrador the way it is in other regions, such as the Gulf. The Newfoundland and Labrador mackerel fishery was a commercial fishery, not a bait fishery,” Glynn explained.
DFO is setting three fishery openings for the Atlantic mackerel bait fishery this year with one-third of the TAC released for each of the openings.
The first opened on May 27 with a 220-tonne TAC released. An additional 246.67 tonnes was released on July 3. By July 8, it had been caught. A notice to harvesters by DFO advised the mackerel bait fishery had been paused in all mackerel fishing areas.
“This notice to stop fishing is for conservation purposes as landings have surpassed the first 466.67 tonne portion of the total allowable catch (TAC).”
The second 466.67 tonnes for the Atlantic mackerel personal-use bait fishery was scheduled to be released in August and a third in October.
DFO said the decision to increase the TAC was informed by peer-reviewed science, industry input and socioeconomic considerations.
DFO completed an updated Atlantic mackerel stock assessment for 2026, ahead of the usual two-year cycle. That peer-reviewed stock assessment showed that the stock has grown year-over-year by almost 50 per cent since historic lows in 2021, but still remains in the critical zone.
The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) in Nova Scotia said the decision to increase the TAC is risky and leaves the rebuilding of an important forage stock to the flip of a coin.
“With such an important forage fish species in the critical zone of the Fisheries Act for 15 years now, we were hopeful that, finally, the government was prioritizing the commercial closure and rebuilding plan in place. While a moderate increase, this decision risks the progress made towards rebuilding. Being in the critical zone should mean that removals are restricted to the absolute lowest possible level, to promote growth. Staying the course and following a precautionary approach now will better position the stock to support a sustainable commercial fishery in the future,” said Holly Isnor, fisheries program manager with the EAC in a media release.
The decision to increase the TAC came after the Minister initiated an off-year stock assessment, pointed out the EAC.
“The Minister cited peer-reviewed science, industry input and socio-economic considerations in her decision. Instead of following the objectives of the mackerel rebuilding plan that was implemented only two years ago after extensive consultation with stakeholders, including fish harvesters, the Minister unilaterally changed those objectives to allow for what the EAC sees as a riskier catch level. While the previous plan required a 75 per cent probability that the population would continue to increase, the change allowed the Minister to choose a catch level that offers only just above a 50 per cent probability that the population will continue to grow,” reads the media release.
“A management decision that followed the rebuilding plan was already in place for 2026,” said Isnor. “The Minister’s announcement backtracks on that standing decision and puts not only the long-term sustainability of the Atlantic mackerel stock at risk, but also the possibility of a future commercial fishery.”
The Atlantic mackerel bait fishery is a competitive fishery and is intended for personal use only. Eligible fish harvesters participating in the personal-use bait fishery are restricted to a daily limit of 454 kg (1,000 lbs), which is monitored through various measures, including a 100 per cent hail-in requirement in all regions.
Northwest Atlantic mackerel is made up of Northern and Southern contingents. Canada fishes the Northern contingent, while the United States fishes a mix of both. DFO estimates that between 20 per cent and 80 per cent of U.S. landings are from the Northern contingent, said FFAW Unifor.
The United States is seeing such an abundance of mackerel that it increased its 2026 mackerel quota to 11,237 tonnes this year, an increase of nearly 1,200 per cent from 2025. A significant portion of mackerel the U.S. will harvest may come from the same Northern contingent that Canadian harvesters depend on, the union added.
“While Newfoundland and Labrador harvesters watch mackerel pass by, American harvesters are benefiting from Canada’s closed fishery. This is not acceptable,” said FFAW-Unifor President Dwan Street.
“We have seen Minister Thompson make decisions that place trust in harvesters’ observations. That did not happen with mackerel, but there is still time to make the right decision for 2026 and reopen the commercial fishery.”
