December declared Month of the Lobster

By Carla Allen

THE COAST GUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

It’s taken close to 12 months and its had to settle for 31 days of recognition as opposed to 365, but the Municipality of Barrington has finally received recognition for a celebratory time period for lobsters.

At the start of the year council approached the provincial government and federal government with a request to recognize 2009 as the Year of the Lobster.

Premier Darrell Dexter declared December as the Month of the Lobster at the Nov. 4 general assembly of the Nova Scotia Legislature in Halifax.

Full text of the Hansard (debates of the House) is as follows: Whereas the lobster fishery supports many people in our rural coastal communities and has annual exports of $400 million, making Nova Scotia the largest lobster-supplying province in Canada; and whereas Nova Scotia lobster is a delicious seafood, which is managed in a sustainable manner; and whereas on November 30th in the early morning hours of the first day of the season, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, on my behalf, will read a proclamation to fishermen declaring December the Month of the Lobster.”

All members of the House were encouraged to use vehicle plates provided by the Year of the Lobster Committee in Shelburne County, and to promote Nova Scotia lobster in any way they can to celebrate the Month of the Lobster.

The Municipality of Barrington already hosts an annual lobster festival each summer, which includes a lobster eating contest and 10-K run. The municipality of Barrington erected several highway signs in recent years proclaiming itself the Lobster Capital of Canada.