Prices Currently in the $5/Pound Range
Reports indicate lobster landings in LFA 34 have not been as good as last year, but harvesters in LFA 33, 35, 36 and 38 are performing well.
The weather played havoc with days at sea, well into the new year. Prices also weren’t as high as anticipated considering the demise of the Canadian dollar — a good 10 cents from a year ago – and the burgeoning Asian market for lobsters.
The opening was delayed in LFA 34, which was probably a good thing considering water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine were nine degrees Celsius. By mid-January, these temps had only gone down to four degrees. When the season did open, there were some quality issues with lobster coming from certain grounds.
A number of processors preferred the Grand Manan product because it was crate run. In many cases the LFA 34 product was graded aboard ship and processors ended up with a product which, in many cases, should have been left in the water.
One processor, who is reputed to buy 20 million pounds of lobsters each year, said the mortality ran to five and six per cent, which meant that about a million pounds of lobsters ended up in landfills. The usual ‘shrinkage’ is one to two per cent.
With lighter catches and a dollar which was worth at least 10 cents less than a year ago — one would assume a better dockside price for the harvester. It opened in LFA 34 at $4.25/pound and by January 10 was at $5/pound.
- Photo submitted by Lonnie Snow.
The plummeting price of fuel was a boon for harvesters and processors alike, but in essence the ballooning Asian market for Canadian lobsters hasn’t translated into a price bonanza for harvesters, which is puzzling to Bernie Berry.
Berry is the president of the Coldwater Lobster Association, an organization attempting to organize lobstermen in LFA 34, the largest lobster fishing sector in Canada without any overall association or organization.
“We read that the Chinese consumer is paying upwards of $80 a pound for our lobster while we’re getting five bucks. That’s a huge discrepancy. When you consider that this market is being targeted by many buyers and the drop in the value of the Canadian dollar, I feel we should have been getting more for our product. But we aren’t organized so we’re being dictated to instead of the opposite,” he said.
The season ends in LFA 34 on May 31.
