Some days in January it seemed there were more lobster traps coming ashore than lobsters in the southwestern Nova Scotia lobster fishery.
Water temperatures are unusually cold in lobster fishing areas (LFA) 33 and 34 this winter and overall, lobster landings continue to be low for many fishers.
“The catches haven’t been that great. There hasn’t been a lot landed this year,” said Lockeport lobster buyer Mike Cotter, Cotter’s Ocean Products.
Cotter said water temperatures are five to six degrees colder this winter compared to previous years.
“One thing we’re seeing too is soft-shelled lobsters, the most we’ve ever seen these last two weeks. It’s very late in the year, they shouldn’t be soft shell now. I don’t know if it’s a later moult or what. Something’s happening because we never seen this before,” said Cotter.
Dan Fleck, project manager of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association, said the change in water temperatures is something fishing captains have been talking about.
“Fingers crossed the lobsters are there but just moulted late and just haven’t crawled or trapped yet,” said Fleck. “There does seem to be more soft shells being landed for the third week of January. That’s bizarre.”
While some near shore lobster fishermen in LFA 33 and 34 traditionally land their gear for the winter months, Fleck said he’s been hearing stories of offshore fishermen who have moved into their spring fishing ground traditionally much closer to shore, and who have landed gear.
“It’s anecdotal, but outside of 40 fathoms, it’s been very, very bleak this year. People have never seen it before,” said Fleck.
The shore price was $13.50/pound in late January. “The price is $3 better than it was this time last year, so that’s helped some captains bridge the decline in the catches,” said Fleck.
Filling the Chinese New Year’s market will be “a big part of what we do in the next two or three weeks,” said Cotter. “Everybody’s getting ready for that. There’s not a big U.S. market this year and the last couple of years the European market has been so bad, there’s very little going on there.”
The six-month LFA 33 and 34 lobster fishery closes on May 31.
“We have to be patient and see how it plays out,” said Kris Vascotto, executive director of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance.
“It really comes down to each season is really quite dynamic. This one is no different. In some areas, some people are reporting improved landings, other areas are far less encouraging. Industry can’t say with any certainty how this fishery is performing until the season is actually finished and all the landings are tallied,” said Vascotto.
“You always hear if you don’t get them in the fall, you get them in the spring. We have to wait and see what is going to happen. We can say there was enough supply to put good quality Nova Scotia lobster on the plates of anybody who wanted them around the globe throughout the season.”
