New traceability requirements from the European Union, war in the Middle East, the continued uncertainty of United States tariffs and other economic factors are casting a shadow on lobster markets going into the spring fishery in Atlantic Canada.
“We have been working with the lobster sector and DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) to prepare for the new traceability requirements from the E.U. (European Union) as they work to limit imports from IUU (Illegal, unreported, unregulated) fisheries. It appears that the live lobster sector is managing OK, but we are worried about how the processing sector will manage when production is in full swing in the spring,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.
“I fully expect that some processors and exporters will forego European orders due to the new administrative burden to collect the new traceability elements. This will be a blow to our efforts to expand market share in Europe, so I hope these fears are not realized. European importers are pushing back on the new requirements as they also find them to be burdensome on their employees,” said Irvine.
The removal of the 25 per cent Chinese tariff on March 1 has resulted in increased live lobster shipments to China, said Irvine. “However, this is a typically slow time of year with minimal inventory and harvesting, so a large increase in shipments would be unusual. Most live dealers are carefully managing inventory in preparation for the spring shore price adjustment that will come when harvesting begins throughout the region in April.”
For live lobster markets going into the spring, “competition from Vietnamese and U.S. lobster should be limited, which will be positive for Canadian lobster, but changes in consumer demand due to the war in the Middle East and other economic forces along with uncertainty with possible tariffs in the U.S. could impact prices and demand,” said Irvine.
“Supply flow due to earlier season opening dates in eastern Nova Scotia also could impact spring pricing.”
On the processing side, Irvine said after a strong year, “We hope demand from the U.S.A., Europe and Asia will stay steady. However, the same forces noted above (war, economic forces and U.S. tariff uncertainty) could also impact demand and prices.”
Irvine said it is hard to predict what impact the new Welfare at Time of Killing (WATOK) regulations in the U.K. will do to demand for live lobster. Since 2023, live lobster exports have declined from 46 per cent to 37 per cent of the total lobster exports, while processed lobster has increased from 37 to 41 per cent and meats from 17 to 22 per cent.
It is now illegal to cook live lobster by boiling or steaming in the U.K. Lawful ways on how to humanely kill live crustaceans are expected to include stunning with a “CrustatStun” device or killing by splitting in two with a large knife, said Irvine.
Looking ahead, Irvine said the LCC has received $200,000 in federal and provincial funding from the Regional Tariff Relief Initiative for the 2026–2027 fiscal year. The money “will fund our Long-term Value Strategy for Canadian Lobster (market intelligence, market access, marketing and promotion). This is a minimal amount of money for marketing which we will invest in targeted programs in our key markets,” said Irvine.
“We will also use some of this funding to refresh a value chain analysis to help the lobster sector understand how each part of the value chain shares in the export value.”
