Cut back to increase

Trent Shaw doesn’t think the extra week in November is going to benefit lobster fishermen this year. It could work against them and keep the price low.

For many years, dumping day has been set as the last Monday in November. That date is usually close to the end of the month, but this year it’s on the 24th, which adds five days of fishing to the six-month season. “Do we need this week? I think we’d be better served to bring our catch in closer to the best market, the Christmas market,” said Shaw.

An abundance of lobsters in Maine combined with a faltering economy and less demand for luxury items has caused the price to plummet. That is affecting buyers in this part of the world, says Shaw. “I understand they are not too excited about processing. There are a lot of them who have stopped. Others, their inventories are getting pretty stacked up. It’s going to be costly for them to hang on to it. They kind of have a choice to make – do they hold on to that inventory and try to move it over time…the longer you hang onto it, you’ve got financing charges and storage charges and it adds up – or put it on the market and get what you can for it so they can start back in processing again? “To do that they’re going to want cheap lobsters to put back. Either way it’s not going to be very beneficial to our price situation. It may keep the industry moving but it won’t increase our price much. “I think we’re better off to wait until the first of December when the market is more able, hopefully, to take most of those fish. I’m not saying if we waited that week we’d magically cure everything and get a big price for our fish or anything like that but I think it might serve our industry better at the present time given the situation we’re in,” he said.

Another solution that’s been bandied about in past years to drive up the price of lobster is to split the season and keep boats tied up at wharves during the harshest months – January and February. It’s a recommendation that Lobster Fishing Area 34 put to the vote last year and defeated. Shaw thinks the idea should still be considered to “dry up the pipeline”. “If we could get rid of the surplus of lobsters that are kicking around right now maybe we would stand to gain revenue in another year that we might not receive. This problem could trail itself into next year. That’s one of my big concerns,” he said.

With improvements in technology, bigger, faster boats, better equipment and increasing experience, Shaw estimates the ability to catch lobster has quadrupled. Yet there’s been little cut back on fishing. Last year fishermen in LFA 34 did not fish Sundays in December. “This year I don’t hear any talk about what we can do to reduce the glut and not only are they not talking about it, there’s no talk about taking Sundays off. Now we’ve got this whole extra week tacked on. It seems to me we’re going backwards instead of forwards. I feel there’s a lack of consistency,” said Shaw. “We’re in an economic crisis here and we might have to make tough decisions.”

The issue of whether to stay tied up on Sundays was brought to the floor of the lobster fishing area 34 advisory committee, with opinion split depending on which port reps you asked. A vote around the table had four in favour of no Sunday fishing, two voting to fish on Sundays, three saying they’d go with the majority opinion and others abstaining, saying they felt uncomfortable voting on the issue since they had not surveyed fishermen in their home ports.

After giving the port reps a few more days to collect input on the idea, DFO area director Ian Marshall said there was not a strong enough consensus to recommend a change to the fishing season, therefore there will be Sunday fishing this season.