While hopes were high, the market outlook was uncertain as fishermen in lobster fishing areas (LFAs) 33 and 34 were getting ready for the start of the six-month lobster fishery.
Fishermen began transporting thousands of lobster traps and gear to local wharves and loading their boats on Nov. 13. The LFA 33, 34 season was scheduled to open on Nov. 27, weather permitting.
In the Bay of Fundy, where LFAs 36 and 38 opened on Nov. 14, the shore price was in the $8.50 to $8.75/pound range. When LFA 35 opened on Oct. 12, the opening shore price there was $9 to $10/pound.
Going into the LFA 33 and 34 seasons, it was “not a great market situation,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.
On the processing side, whole cooked and whole raw/blanched moved well earlier in the year, but the market has slowed in the final quarter. “Key markets in Spain and China are slow and weak,” said Irvine
“The market is flat for meat and tails with no movement since the spring in the key U.S. foodservice and retail markets. This despite a drop in the Maine catch by 20 per cent this summer and fall that typically keep Canadian processors busy when there is little fishing in Canada. Tail exports to the U.S. are down two per cent with meat up by 16 per cent with no corresponding price increase,” said Irvine.
Demand is also flat on the live market, said Irvine, with U.S. imports down 16 per cent by volume year to date. Demand in China was strong during the early parts of the year, albeit at breakeven prices, but have been slower during the fall period.
“In general, consumers are trading down in their protein choices at retail and in restaurants. This is due to continued high interest rates, a drop in savings, the cost of living and a general feeling that the economy is underperforming. In Canada, restaurants are struggling with a recent study showing 50 per cent losing money, 30 per cent breaking even and 20 per cent being profitable. All of this is having a negative impact on the lobster sector as we finish up 2023,” said Irvine.
According to preliminary statistics from DFO, LFA 34 fishers caught 15,263 tonnes of lobster with a landed value of $305,416,405 during the 2022–2023 season, a decrease of 4,379 tonnes in the catch and $143 million less in landed value from the 2021–2022 season.
In LFA 33, 7,194 tonnes were landed during the 2022–2023 season, worth $144,177,421, a decrease of 144 tonnes in landings and $32 million in landed value from the 2021–2022 season.
