Costs up, prices down

The season for lobster fishers was rough as they continuously caught bad breaks with high fuel costs and bait prices countered with low prices for their catch.

Lowered prices were balanced by the rise in catch for many of the fish harvesters but the rise was not enough to absorb the shocking impact by both high fuel and bait costs. “It gets harder and harder to make a living,” said local fisherman and advisor, Brad Crouse. “We are already down to making a whole years work out of a seasonable job.” “It was a long winter but it is going to be an even longer summer for those people, especially deck hands, who didn’t get enough to qualify for EI (employment insurance),” he continued.

70 per cent of Nova Scotia lobster is exported to the states but with their own economy on a downward trend and dollar sinking, harvesters are feeling the blow more than ever.

Bait has gone up close to $1 per pound and Crouse said that leaves very little room for loss.

His own bait bill exceeded his overall fuel bill for the season but according to Bill Wolfe, Conservation and Protection Supervisor for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, fish harvesters are not the only ones feeling the pressure.

He said that the new regulation of not being able to use sculpins as bait has put extra pressure on other bait sources such as male crabs as well.

Crouse said there are a lot of varying opinions on why the price of lobster is so low but he believed the industry has never been able to catch up since 2003 when many soft shell lobsters were sold by buyers unknowingly. “It was a bad, bad mistake,” explained Crouse. “They were poor quality and the prices have never been the same since.”

He said the European market dwindling was the hardest to take. “Some people tend to hold lobsters until the price goes up and it may look good but the quality suffers and that is not good,” he said.

Domestic and US markets are the most practical for keeping shipping costs low and European and Japanese markets are becoming increasingly more expensive to reach. “Look at our own price of lobster,” pointed out Crouse. “It is rarely below $10 per pound for the whole year.”

Harvesters were worried when they first began the season of running into problems that may have been caused by post tropical storm Noel but although they were hard pressed to find larger lobster in the fall, by spring their catch was once again up.

Water temperature played a big part in the last minute scramble that closed the season with temperatures falling so low the lobsters were not crawling.

In order for the lobsters to crawl into a trap the water has to be at least over the 40-degree mark and Crouse said the spring season has hardly any times when the conditions are right. “Our spring is just not viable,” he said. “Global warming is having the opposite effect for us and we are seeing the temperatures of the water stay lower for longer.”

He also blamed the hardships facing harvesters on the growing seal problem. “It is a very hot political issue and a very emotional one for people around here,” he said.

Many fish harvesters have been increasingly frustrated with the seal, which are known to eat 30 to 40 pounds of fish per day, including bait from the lobster traps. “They’ve got the bottom just about cleaned,” Crouse said.

Crouse is frustrated with the harbour seal’s protection status but said that despite lobbying the government for years to have this changed, it is an issue they do not want to be tied to.

As for an outlook on next season and if Crouse expects for it to be a better year he just gave this simple advice. “I’ve been doing this for 37-years and learned you have to take one year at a time,” he said. “We’ve had some good ones and we’ve had some bad ones.”