Commercial fishing glossary
The jargon you hear on day one and quietly google that night. Plain definitions, no assumed background.
Key facts
- Terms defined
- 20
- ITQ
- Individual Transferable Quota -- fully transferable between licence holders
- IVQ
- Individual Vessel Quota -- only partially transferable, tied to the boat
- Checked
- 2026-09-08
These are standard, widely-used terms in Canadian commercial fishing, not company-specific or disputed claims. Checked 2026-09-08.
The one-page jargon sheet
The compiled artifact for this cluster: every term below in one printable table, alphabetical.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Banding | Placing a rubber band around each of a live lobster's claws so it can't injure other lobsters (or a handler) while it's held, sorted, or shipped. Some fisheries use a plastic peg instead -- see Plug. |
| Berth | A crew position or spot on a boat. "Getting a berth" means getting hired on for a trip or a season -- see our crews page for how that actually happens. |
| Dragger | A vessel that tows a net (a trawl) along or near the bottom to catch groundfish like cod, haddock, or flatfish -- a different method from longlining, seining, or gillnetting. |
| Gillnet | A net hung vertically in the water so fish swim into the mesh and get caught by the gills -- a passive gear type, unlike a dragger's towed net or a seine's encircling one. |
| Gurdy | A powered reel or winch mounted on a boat used to haul in longline gear, downriggers, or similar fishing line under power instead of by hand. |
| Hauler | A powered mechanical winch used to pull traps or pots up from the bottom -- often called a "pot hauler" or "trap hauler" specifically on a lobster or crab boat. |
| High-liner | A fisherman or boat known for consistently landing a large, or the largest, catch in a fleet or fishery -- a reputation term, not an official designation. |
| ITQ (Individual Transferable Quota) | A quota assigned to a specific licence holder that can be bought, sold, or leased to another licence holder -- fully transferable, unlike an IVQ. |
| IVQ (Individual Vessel Quota) | A quota assigned to a specific licensed vessel rather than to a person -- only partially transferable, tied more tightly to the boat than an ITQ is. |
| LFA (Lobster Fishing Area) | A DFO-designated management zone for the lobster fishery -- season dates, trap limits, and rules are all set per LFA and change area to area. See our seasons page for current LFA-by-LFA timing, sourced to DFO. |
| Longline | A fishing method using one long main line with many shorter, baited branch lines and hooks attached along its length -- common for halibut and other groundfish. |
| Offload | Unloading the catch from the boat at the wharf or buyer at the end of a trip -- usually where the catch is also weighed, graded, and sold. |
| Plug | A small peg inserted into a lobster's claw joint to immobilize it, serving the same safety purpose as banding -- which method a fishery uses varies by area and buyer. |
| Quota | The total allowable catch -- by weight, number, or value -- that a licence holder, fleet, or fishery as a whole is permitted to take in a season, set by DFO based on stock assessments. |
| Seine | A large net that encircles a school of fish and is then drawn closed at the bottom (a purse seine) to catch the whole school at once -- a different method from a dragger's towed net or a gillnet's passive one. |
| Share | A crew member's percentage cut of the boat's catch or proceeds -- the standard way most fishing crew are paid, instead of an hourly wage. See our pay page for how shares actually break down by role. |
| Soak time | How long fishing gear -- traps, nets, or longlines -- is left in the water before it's hauled back in. Soak time affects both catch and how fresh it is when it comes up. |
| Spat | Juvenile shellfish -- baby scallops, mussels, or oysters -- that have just settled onto a surface after their free-swimming larval stage. Mostly relevant to shellfish aquaculture rather than wild-capture crews. |
| Steaming time | Time spent travelling to or from the fishing grounds, as distinct from time spent actually fishing, hauling gear, or processing catch on board. |
| Trap limit | The maximum number of traps a licence permits a boat to fish at once -- set per LFA (or per fishery) by DFO, and a major factor in how a season is actually fished. |
Sources
- This site -- Seasons — source for LFA definitions and DFO-sourced area-by-area dates.
- This site -- Pay — source for how crew shares actually work.
- Merriam-Webster -- "highliner" — accessed 2026-09-08.
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada -- Regional Guidelines for Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) Programs — accessed 2026-09-08. Confirms ITQ terminology is in active DFO use; the page itself does not define the term, which is why this glossary's ITQ/IVQ entries are written as plain working definitions rather than direct quotes.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between an ITQ and an IVQ?
Both are ways of splitting a fishery's total allowable catch into individual pieces instead of racing the whole fleet for a shared total. An ITQ (Individual Transferable Quota) is assigned to a licence holder and can be bought, sold, or leased to someone else -- fully transferable. An IVQ (Individual Vessel Quota) is assigned to a specific licensed vessel instead, and is only partially transferable -- tied more tightly to the boat itself.
What's the difference between a dragger, a seiner, and a gillnetter?
They're three different ways of catching fish, and a boat is usually built and rigged for one. A dragger tows a net along or near the bottom. A seiner encircles a whole school of fish with a net and draws it closed. A gillnetter hangs a net vertically and lets fish swim into the mesh passively. Which method a fishery uses depends on the species and the area.
What does "getting a berth" mean?
It means getting hired on to a crew position on a boat, for a trip or a season. See our crews page for how someone with no experience actually lands one.
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