A cold windy spring, combined with below normal water temperatures has resulted in lower lobster landings in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland for the opening month of the commercial season.
“The first month of the spring lobster season on Prince Edward Island has been off to a cold and windy start,” said Ian MacPherson, executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA).
“LFAs 24 and 26A have lost up to three days of fishing due to severe weather. This coupled with colder than normal water temperatures have led to lower catches of up to 25 per cent in some areas. As the midpoint of the season approaches, some annual catch numbers are down while other areas are reporting comparable catches to 2024,” said MacPherson.
“As with any fishing season, it is difficult to predict the season outcome as strong catches can materialize in June. Island fishers have been focused on the challenges of the season and continue to land high vitality product for our many international markets,” said MacPherson.
In Newfoundland, lobster fishing has been pretty slow along the south coast, while the fisheries on the west and northeast coasts seem to be status quo, said Jamie Baker, 3Ps member representative for the FFAW.
“It’s been a mixed bag of weather. Early on there were a couple of storms. It’s been pretty cold so far. It’s not unusual to be cold in May but this year is exceptional, a lot of cold water in a lot of areas. A mixed bag of weather and a mixed bag of results. Landings overall I would say are fairly close to on par but in specific areas there’s been lower returns.”
Aside from the weather, mandated technology from DFO is resulting in extreme challenges for some Newfoundland lobster harvesters, as well as others throughout Atlantic Canada this spring, said Baker.
“This year DFO mandated harvesters in the lobster fishery have to use e-logs,” explained Baker.
“What a struggle that has been. With some of the age demographics we have and technical challenges —people off grid” adding a lot of lobster fishermen are 60 plus.
“Some of them don’t even have (cell) phones and those that do have flip phones. This is all a foreign language to them and they can’t really seem to find a way to do it. We had approached DFO and said we need a phased in plan here. We need consideration for some of the older guys, grandfather them in. DFO said no. It’s brutal to think every lobster harvester in the province can do this. There’s no way. But at the same time, they are actively continuing to log their catches the way they always have on a paper log.”
As for shore prices, in Newfoundland the season opened on April 20 at $7.46, falling to $6.83 by late May.
Last year the season opened at $9.27, dropping to as low as $5.65 by late May, then trending back up to $7, $8, and $9.16 in June and July, recalled Baker.
“We don’t like to see prices that low but as least they are holding for now,” said Baker. “$6.83 is slightly above where we were this time last year. When you start getting down to $6 or $5, you’re talking about a fishery that’s not quite as feasible. We’re hoping it will hold strong where it is. There hasn’t been a lot of movement in the last few weeks since Mother’s Day. Typically, the price will trend back up eventually. We’re hoping that trend will continue and put some money in the pockets of harvesters by the time the season wraps up here.”
The P.E.I. lobster fishery opened with a $7/pound shore price for market size and $6.50 for canners, increasing by late May to $7.50 and $6.75, said Charlie McGeoghegan, chair of the P.E.I. Lobster Marketing Board.
“The price is down quite a bit from last year,” said McGeoghegan. “Last year the season opened at $9.50. After four days it dropped to $7 and the last two weeks was $7.50. The year before it, $10 all season.”
McGeoghegan said landings overall for P.E.I fishers are down quite a bit for the first month of the season. “There’s been a lot of northeast wind and that’s affected the north side catches. A lot of places are saying they are down 30 to 40 per cent. The south side is spotty. Some are on par, others down.”
Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada, said in general, so far this spring landings have been down throughout the region due to cold water and poor weather.
“It remains to be seen if they will improve as we move into June. Shore prices have been mostly steady and lower than last year due to considerable market uncertainty due to tariffs and threats of tariffs and general economic uncertainty in all of our key markets for live and frozen lobster. Buyers are being cautious domestically and around the world as virtually all are being impacted by trade uncertainty and lower demand. Exports of live lobster to China are down in terms of volume and value as the economy in China continues to suffer and Australian lobster is now available,” said Irvine.
Canada now has a 15 per cent negative tariff situation with China vs. the U.S. but there is very little lobster this time of year south of the border, said Irvine.
“We are working on our marketing plan for this year that will include targeted promotions in Europe, the Middle East and Asia along with activities in Canada. The provinces and federal government are both developing their plans to diversify the seafood market for Canadian seafood products and we will work closely with them as it develops. We are once again going to lead an Export Café mission to key markets in February but it is too early to determine where we will go,” said Irvine.
