Recreational food fishery gearing up to start Friday

Get your boats and life jackets ready, because it's food fishery time in Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Recreational fishery extends season with added weekends
• 'The news is good': Northern cod stocks slowly increasing

Friday marks the start of the extended recreational cod fishery in the province.

The following is the schedule for the summer season, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

• Friday, July 1 - Sunday, July 3
• Saturday,July 9 - Sunday, July 10
• Saturday, July 16 - Sunday, August 7
• Saturday, Aug.13 - Sunday, Aug. 14
• Saturday, Aug. 20 - Sunday, Aug. 21
• Saturday, Aug. 27- Sunday, Aug. 28
• Saturday, Sept. 3 - Monday, Sept. 5

Fall season:

• Saturday, Sept. 24 - Sunday, Oct. 02

There are more chances this year to get your feed of fish, with the federal government adding14 extra daysto the food fishery schedule.

In May, DFO released a report which indicated that the cod stocks were returning.

The stock in the 2J, 3K and 3L regions has increased to an estimated 538,000 tonnes of fish the highestsince 1992, when an economically devastating moratorium on cod was introduced in response to collapsing stocks.

The moratorium is considered to be the largest single industrial layoff in Canadian history.