DFO gives fishermen bleak outlook on upcoming season

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

There have been big changes since the commercial lobster fishery off southwestern Nova Scotia closed last spring. And with a new season set to open in three weeks there’s more bad news than good news on the horizon.

The landed lobster value for the region is around $200 million, with fall lobster landings accounting for about 30 million pounds of lobster. In 2007, the prices in the fall/winter fishery ranged from $5 to $7 a pound.

But in fisheries underway in the Maritimes and Maine, the reports have been prices ranging from $2 to $4.

When the traps were pulled out of the water last spring, the quality of lobster was good, prices were set to meet markets, there was a strong global economy and normal banking and credit options existed.

What a difference six months makes.

According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans there is a weak market in the processing sector coupled with an already high inventory, lobsters selling elsewhere are fetching low prices, the global economy is inching towards a recession and there is a banking and credit crisis. “Overall, when you look at last year in the spring compared to now, there have been big changes,” Chris Annand, DFO’s director of resource management told fishermen at the lobster fishing area 34 committee meeting on Oct. 29.

She said the credit crunch is a very real concern for the way business is conducted and a global economic recession weakens demand for high-end food products. In the U.S. some restaurants are closing or taking high-end seafood off the menu. “So where you used to have surf and turf, you may only have turf,” she said.

Holding lobsters may be more difficult for fishermen and dealers this season, she added, and given that the opening prices are expected to be low, if something happens in the fishery there will be little revenue or movement for making up the shortfall.

DFO says there may be things the industry might want to consider, such as allowing markets to determine the volume of lobsters landed, limiting landings of soft-shelled or low quality lobsters, adjusting or shortening seasons, reducing trap limits, increasing the number of licence partnerships and/or forming an ad hoc industry group.

At the LFA 34 meeting, the majority of fishermen in the room did not take kindly to DFO making suggestions, based on economics, on how they should operate their lobster fishery, even though DFO said that wasn’t what it was doing. Rather, it said, it was just passing along information.