The 2020 spring lobster season on Prince Edward Island could have been better, but it certainly could have been worse.
“The spring season in a nutshell, I think it went better than most people expected,” said Jerry Gavin, executive director of the Prince Edward Island Seafood Processors Association.
“When we started the season, labour was down 30 per cent, all plants had to have a COVID-19 response plan and protocols in place. There were concerns about the safety of the workers and of the community overall. Nobody knew how the markets were going to play out.”
The season opening for lobster fishing areas (LFA) 23, 24 and 26 was delayed for two weeks until May 15 due to a multitude of issues and concerns and closed on July 4 after a four-day season extension.
“Looking back, some people were saying there shouldn’t be a season. I don’t think anyone would say that now,” said Gavin. “I’m glad there was a season. It was great for the economy. I don’t think anybody made a lot of money, but jobs were created on the boats and in the plants.”
On the labour force front, “we were able to hire quite a few students through the spring,” said Gavin, which worked to the advantage of the processors. “Last spring, we probably hired 70 students. This year we doubled that and also as the season went along, more temporary foreign workers came in, so for the fall, processors are in a better position” than they were in May.
“When we started the year, because we were down (labour), there was concern we couldn’t process everything that was harvested,” said Gavin. “In some cases, some ports implemented catch limits, but they only lasted for a couple of weeks. Some processors didn’t apply catch limits at all overall.”
Marketwise, “retail was very strong and I think that made a difference,” said Gavin. “The price was more attractive to consumers. A lot of lobster were sold in the retail market.”
Shore prices were down dramatically this year compared to last. The season opened at “a preadjusted price” of $4 per pound for canners and $4.25 for market lobster. The pre-season price was set at the request of fishermen and arrived at through negotiations and conference calls with buyers, fishers and processors, said Gavin, adding the price may have varied somewhat during the season.
Last spring season, fishermen were fetching $6.50 and $7/pound for their catch and in the fall, $5 and $5.50/pound.
With a local workforce and the number of temporary foreign workers available, P.E.I. processors have been working through the summer processing lobsters from Maine and in live holding facilities getting ready for the fall season to start in LFA 25 on August 10, said Gavin.
“We requested, both the processors and the fishers, that the season start on August 7. The reason being fishers fish Friday and Saturday but don’t fish on Sunday and that would allow the processing plants to clean up the back log but unfortunately DFO decided to start the season on August 10 which is a Monday so that means six straight days of significant harvest coming in. A lot of lobsters are caught the first few days of the season so there is concern we will not be able to process all the lobster being harvested. We don’t know. If the landings are like last year it’s going to be a real challenge.”
Going into the fall season, market conditions have industry “a little nervous” much the same as in the spring, said Gavin.
“The biggest unknown is we don’t know what’s going to happen in the U.S. It’s anybody’s guess. It will be interesting to see how the fall progresses both from the landing side and the market side.”
LFA 25 closes on October 10.
