Geoff Irvine of the Lobster Council of Canada stated the obvious while being interviewed about the lobster industry in the Maritimes — a general agreement on marketing by the Nova Scotia industry won’t happen without the input of South West Nova.
A marketing strategy, while going ahead in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, has stalled in Nova Scotia due to the most productive lobster sector in Canada not being part of initial discussions at a lobster summit in Feb. 2014.
This has pitted this area against the remainder of fishing sectors in the province and the lobster industry in N.B. and P.E.I.
The collecting of a penny from harvesters at the first point of sale is being rejected by the 60 or so member-strong Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association. It would like to see a monetary figure attached to their licences each year as a way of contributing to the marketing plan.
If this is the case, how do the fishermen pay into the scheme?
This hasn’t been a problem in N.B. and P.E.I. because the industry there presented a united plan to their respective fishery departments. Both N.B. and P.E.I. could pass legislation this fall allowing for the collecting of the penny per pound levy for a marketing strategy.
This is not the case in Nova Scotia, although the political apparatus is in motion and set to go. All that is needed is for the department of Fisheries and Aquaculture to get a unified proposal from the industry in South West Nova.
There have been grumblings at this end of the province about the Lobster Council of Canada heading up the marketing endeavour. This body was chosen at the Lobster Summit to do just that, but now even Nova Scotia’s fishery minister Keith Colwell has mused from time to time of another entity undertaking that job.
The Lobster Council was created as a marketing tool by the industry, including key members from the harvesting and processing sector in south west Nova.
It was the Council that enabled the publishing of the highly informative Gardner Pinfold report for a long-term value strategy for the Canadian lobster industry.
The majority of questions posed about marketing have been answered in this report, which should be required reading for everyone in the industry, but has obviously escaped the perusal of a large segment of the industry.
The Lobster Council has been actively engaged in selling Canadian lobster in Europe and Asia and was the lead player in the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia lobster industry recently being certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
This was an expensive procedure (about $200,000 — half of which was paid by the provinces and the remainder by the industry, harvester and buyer/processor) which tells the consumer that lobsters caught in these areas are from a well-managed, environmentally sustainable source.
Without this seal of approval, shippers might lose a large chunk of their markets.
“This certification came about because the industry worked together. Which proves we can work together and we should on this marketing issue in Nova Scotia,” Irvine said.
