It might seem like a tale out of time to many, but long gone are the days when the lowly lobster was used as fertilizer on vegetable gardens across Atlantic Canada.
Lobster easily remains Canada’s most valuable seafood export and an iconic Canadian species, despite its scientific name homarus americanus, exported around the world. The lobster industry is a billion-dollar business.
There are 45 lobster fisheries throughout the Atlantic provinces and Quebec, including one for the offshore fishery and one closed for conservation.
Overall, lobster populations in Canada are healthy and sustainably managed.
This is clearly evident by the current booming catch rates in Prince Edward Island, Gulf regions of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and Cape Breton. Despite the harsh weather, the recent fall/winter lobster fishery in south west Nova Scotia was also extremely lucrative for harvesters in that region. At times, mainly driven by climate-related demand issues, LFA 33 and 34 fishermen were getting in excess of $11/pound for their lobster. If only fishermen from a generation or two ago were around to witness those prices.
According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian lobster landings remain at some of the highest levels recorded in 100 years, with an upward trend continuing over recent decades.
One does not need to go back far to see this trend develop. While the majority of other fisheries have been showing steady declines over the last few decades, lobster has been bucking the trend.
In 1992, the year that will be forever synonymous with the infamous groundfish moratorium, live lobster landings in Atlantic Canada and Quebec totalled 41,944 metric tonnes, — with a value of more than $317,223,000.
Skip ahead a few years to 1996, when the overall commercial fishery in this region was still in a species transition state, lobster landings were down slightly, but still consistent at nearly 40,000 tonnes. But despite a small decrease in the amount of lobster coming ashore, the value actually increased to $385,476,000.
By the turn of this century, the importance of the Atlantic lobster industry was not lost on anyone. It was critical to the region that this fishery be managed properly, with the wellbeing of all stakeholders taken into consideration.
While many federally regulated fisheries measures have been questionable down through the years, lobster management, for the most part, continues to be a success story. Commonly used conservation measures that were developed and implemented included limits to the number of licences, trap limits, length of fishing seasons, number of fishing days, total allowable catch quotas (in the offshore lobster fishing area) and lobster size restrictions. When you combine this with reasonable enforcement practices and open and clear communication lines with fishermen, it often leads to high compliance rates and overall, a well-run fishery.
A look at the statistics from 2001 clearly demonstrates the lobster fishery was not just holding its own, but continuing to grow. That year, harvesters landed 52,123 tonnes of lobster, valued at more than $646 million.
Five years later, in 2006, the trend continued with 55,008 tonnes brought ashore, worth $653 million.
This current decade has shown unprecedented growth in the lobster industry. In 2011, landings were 66,500 tonnes, worth $619.7 million, while 2012 saw 74,790 tonnes brought ashore — valued at $662.8 million.
The most recent DFO lobster industry statistics are for 2013 where an impressive 74,686 tonnes were landed, with a value of $680.5 million. It is worth noting that lobster landings accounted for only 10 per cent of the total seafood weight landings in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, but accounted for nearly 35 per cent of the total cash value.
With the current dismal state of the Canadian dollar versus its U.S. greenback counterpart, one is sure to see even more growth once the 2014 and 2015 numbers are compiled.
But despite the perceived year-over-year growth of this fishery, the regional lobster industry is not without its issues.
While stock levels and conservation measures seem fine for now, debates and regional and provincial differences continue on how the Canadian homarus americanus should be marketed to current and future markets — and more importantly, who pays for it.
While fishermen in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick seem to be making some progress, albeit slow, on this front, the issue of lobster marketing levies in Nova Scotia remains a contentious and decisive issue.
A chronic shortage of plant workers also continues to plague local processors, thanks in part to the tightening of hiring restrictions surrounding temporary foreign workers.
Some lobster processing plants in P.E.I. have already implemented daily landing quotas of 1,000 pounds for their fishermen because they simply do not have the capacity to keep up with the amount of lobster hitting the docks. It was reported some fishermen were initially bringing in more than 3,000 pounds per day.
However, despite these issues, the lobster industry remains a bright light for the fishing industry in Atlantic Canada. It is currently healthy and sustainable, so let’s hope all of the stakeholders do not lose sight of this fact and continue with the same practices that have taken it to this point.
