The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) has noted a drastic increase in lobsters around Newfoundland and Labrador in 2024 and says processing capacity needs to rise to meet the uptick.
“Landings have increased significantly and it seems to be all over the island portion of the province,” said Sherry Glynn, Inshore Director for the FFAW.
“The landings for the province were at about 9,200 tonnes. If you look back to 2021, for example, our landings were at 4,800 tonnes. That’s a massive increase over a period of a few years.”
According to Glynn, every single lobster fishing area (LFA) around the province has shown a marked increase from the year previous.
“Even if you look at an LFA with a smaller level of landings, say LFA 4A, it increased from 148 tonnes to over 200 tonnes,” said Glynn. “Even in areas that had a fairly modest fishery, you’re seeing significant increases.”
To Glynn, this surge in lobster prevalence marks another fishery that would allow harvesters to earn a substantial living outside the snow crab fishery, which currently stands as the largest and most lucrative in N.L. In April 2024, lobster was priced at $9.27 per pound, falling to a low of $5.57 per pound in early June before rebounding to $9.16 per pound by mid-July.
“It’s taken the pressure off of crab — you’re not as dependant on a single species anymore — you have other species that are that are helping to make up your revenue,” said Glynn. “Somebody said to me, who had two crab licenses on their enterprise, that this year they actually made more money off lobster than they made on crab.”
Now, with lobster standing second only to crab, Glynn said that processors must match what is being taken into the wharves around the island, whether that be in processing capacity or in storage capacity.
“It’s not intended to be a slice on processors or buyers, they just didn’t have the volume five years ago or even three years ago to make significant investments,” said Glynn.
“Some companies have, because lobster was their main line of business, but for some companies, they’re really just starting to get into lobster in a big way. So, hopefully we’re going to see some growth in the industry’s ability to deal with bigger volumes of lobster.”
Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) tends to attribute the rise of lobster in N.L. to changing ocean temperatures, which could be indicative that the lobster populace will be present around the province for the foreseeable future.
Glynn highlighted that DFO is purported to be working on crafting a precautionary approach framework for N.L., intended to prevent lobster stocks from going into decline, which has been cause for concern for some harvesters as the details are ironed out.
“There’s certainly some concern about that,” said Glynn. “That’s one of the things that remains to be seen; it’s not going to be in place for 2025. But a number of our harvesters are engaged in that, so we’re obviously closely connected to that and following that through.”
