Lobster prices fall as crates of crustaceans pile up in Cape Breton harbours
Some worry oversupply is driving price down, but one seafood buyer says it's happened before and will ease
There are so many lobsters ready for processing or live sale in some eastern Cape Breton harbours that they're being stored temporarily in large flotillas of plastic crates.
Some seafood buyers have stopped buying altogether and others are implementing daily limits on the amount of lobster they will buy.
Fishermen worry the oversupply is driving down the price and while some in the industry say it could be a sign of longer term problems, one buyer says the backlog is evidence that lobster conservation efforts are working and it will ease off in a couple of weeks.
"Our processing facility is maximized daily, seven days a week and our holding facility is pretty darn full as of Saturday night," said Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries in New Haven, northern Cape Breton.
"We've shipped some live shipments — one this morning and one tomorrow — so we're managing through it."
Some in the industry, including some fishermen and one buyer who has stopped taking product, say the problem has become acute because the market for lobster in China has crashed, but they declined to be interviewed.
Burke said the oversupply has happened before, with the last one occurring about a dozen years ago.
Cape Breton lobster fishing areas opened about two weeks ago and Burke said landings are up throughout Atlantic Canada and Quebec, with record catches coming in Newfoundland and Labrador.
However, he said, the largest lobster fishing area in the province, known as Southwest Nova, closes on Friday.
"In a few weeks time, things will have moved to the opposite direction and we'll probably be wishing we had a few more," Burke said.
Victoria Co-op Fisheries has instituted a daily limit on boats, which Burke said can be frustrating for fishermen.
"It's just slowing the volume down for a few days till we can get a little better handle on it," he said. "That's just to manage the volume coming in and fishermen work with us as best they can.
"It can be challenging and every buyer has their different approach to how they deal with it. But bottom line is it's good news in relation to the health of the stock and ... the people that we ship lobster to are saying the quality is excellent."
Herb Nash, a lobster fisherman and harbourmaster in Glace Bay, said no matter the reason, the oversupply has driven the price down for fishermen.
He said the price on opening day was $8.25 a pound.
"We're getting $7 a pound now. A month ago, they were getting $11 or $12 up in Southwest Nova and there was more lobsters coming in then than there are now, or just as many."
Nash said the price usually goes up towards the end of the season as catches diminish, but with a limited season, fishermen can't afford to wait.
Some buyers and processors have holding facilities — sometimes called lobster pounds, where the crustaceans are stored in cold salt water pumped from the ocean floor — to keep the product alive until it can be processed or shipped to market.
Storing them in crates floating in the harbour means they are kept in warmer water and could be damaged or killed by fresh water from heavy rains.
Burke said the Victoria Co-op expanded its holding facility after having storage problems early in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons.
"We still have our challenges with the volumes, but we'll manage our way through it in trying to work with the harvesters as much as possible," he said.
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