Come Home Safe for the Holidays
Above: Jessica Roy Photo
The holiday season and all of its festivities and traditions will soon be upon us.
The countdown is on to when your home will be strewn with tinsel and lights, your tree will be overrun with gifts and there might even be a stocking hung with your name on it. Most importantly, your loved ones will be home waiting for you.
If you work at sea, staying safe guarantees you can be home for the holidays this year.
It’s a tale as old as time for those in ...
From Bad, to Worse to Hopefully Better
People often say, that when it rains, it pours.
While there has been a dark cloud over the Nova Scotia lobster fishery for some months now, the sun must shine eventually.
As far back as the start of the 2021/22 season, lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33 and 34 were facing challenges from weather to a large uptick in the price of bait. High winds ended up delaying the season opening for two days and while prices in the $11 per pound range seemed like a fair trade-off for the delay, higher ...
The Delicate Balance Between Helping and Harming
In the federal government’s ever-increasing desire to protect the undoubtedly dwindling North Atlantic right whale population in this region, fish harvesters have had to sacrifice large portions of their seasons due to closures and make do with less-than-ideal whale-safe gear.
In lobster fishing area (LFA) 25, located between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, harvesters are currently feeling the pressure of what the Maritime Fishermen’s Union (MFU) deems to be arbitrarily large ...
Critical Seafood Exports Showing Signs of Life
Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canadian seafood, especially lobster, is not just enjoyed by consumers around North America, but around the globe.
However, as you are aware, live lobsters don’t crawl to these foreign markets themselves. Part of the challenge for processors and buyers, notably for a live product such as lobster, is timely and efficient air cargo transportation.
Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, air shipments of live lobster from this region were on the ...
Knowledge Itself is Power
To the surprise of few, the current season in lobster fishing areas 33–34 is turning out to be a difficult one.
Everyone involved with what is one of the world’s largest lobster fisheries knew the chips were stacked against them this year. Some have even called it a perfect storm of decreased landings, markets and prices, combined with early foul and inclement weather.
From lower shore prices, to international market uncertainty, to the back-breaking jump in inflation — these ...
Is the Retail Seafood Market About to Bounce Back?
Long before it kicked off, everyone participating in the lobster fishing area (LFA) 33–34 fishery knew 2022–23 was going to be a challenging season.
Lower shore prices, market uncertainty and record prices for bait and diesel are among some of the adversities facing harvesters this year.
Buyers and processors in Nova Scotia are also being extra cautious due to slower than normal international markets at this stage of the season. At the same time, fishermen have their calculators out ...
Adding Insult to Injury
Author Elizabeth Edwards once wrote, “She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails.”
With a challenging 2023 lobster season on the horizon, it looks as the though the resilient commercial fishermen in Southwest Nova Scotia might have quite a bit of metaphorical sail adjusting to do over the next six months.
Harvesters in this region are no strangers to adversity and they are certainly going to have to call upon that experience to navigate the ...
Ramping up the “Red List” Resistance
American author James C. Collins once said, “Bad decisions made with good intentions, are still bad decisions.”
After receiving and continuing to receive unmitigated backlash over its decision to “Red List” American lobster and Canadian snow crab, the California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium is sticking to its misguided guns — at least for now.
As everyone in the Atlantic Canadian fishing industry already knows, as part of its Seafood Watch Program, in September, the conservation ...
Monterey Bay Discredits Itself With Red Listing of Lobster
One of the key points about Non-Governmental Organizations’ (NGOs) ratings of fisheries is their variability.
Different organizations have different levels of independent governance, transparency and public accountability.
The recent red (avoid) listing of American and Canadian lobster by Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch is an example of how rating organizations can reflect their own organizational biases.
Seafood Watch is not among the nine seafood rating organizations benchmar...
The Greying of the Fleet
Rodney Dangerfield once said “It’s great to have grey hair. Ask anyone who’s bald.”
And one does not have to visit too many commercial fishing wharves and harbours across Atlantic Canada to see plenty of examples of that grey hair peeking out from under ball caps.
According to the federal government, for the first time in Canada’s history, there are now more individuals over the age of 65 than there are children under the age of 15.
In Atlantic Canada, more than one in three ...
Come Home Safe for the Holidays
Above: Jessica Roy Photo The holiday season and all of its festivities and traditions will soon be upon us. The countdown is on to when your home will be strewn with tinsel and lights, your tree will be overrun with gifts and there might even be a stocking hung with your name on it. Most importantly, your loved ones will be home waiting for you. If you work at sea, staying safe guarantees you can be home for the holidays this year. It’s a tale as old as time for those in ...