Tag Archives: buyers
No excuse for low lobster prices
The prices being paid to PEI lobster fishers a week into the 2023 season are underwhelming, with most getting $6.50 a pound for canners and $7 for markets. Last year fishermen were paid anywhere from $7 to $9 a pound, while in 2021 prices soared as high as $11. At Graham’s Pond, Travis Graham’s crew has been getting $6.50 for canners and $7.25 for markets. He said he doesn’t think much of those rates, but he’s optimistic things will get better. Edwin McKie, who fishes out of Fortune Harbour, said his crew has also been getting $6.50 to $7 on their tickets. But he expects things to get better. A friend in Maine told him prices there dropped from $10 to $7, and there isn’t a lot of lobster coming to shore there either. >click to read< 11:21
Five Days Into Commercial Dungeness Season, Seafood Buyers, Fishermen Haggle Over Price
Though California’s commercial Dungeness season opened five days ago, Crescent City’s commercial fleet has yet to drop pots as fishermen and buyers haggle over price. Fishermen are asking for $3.25 per pound while Pacific Choice Seafoods, of Eureka, is offering $2.50 per pound, Rick Shepherd, Crescent City Commercial Fisherman’s Association,,, “Pacific Choice has stayed on $2.50 and the boats in Oregon and California have not accepted that offer,” Shepherd said, adding that fishermen continue to negotiate with buyers. >click to read< 07:07
Proposed Fisheries Regulation Amendments Target Fish Processors & Buyers
The Fall 2019 re-election of the Liberal government means the proposed amendments to federal fisheries regulations remain a concern for industry participants.,, However, the government has, to date, not implemented the amendments. The proposed amendments target arrangements that transfer license rights and privileges from license holders to third parties. In the Statement, the Minister notes the perceived narrowness of the definition of “Controlling Agreement”,, McInnes Cooper has prepared this document for information only,, >click to read< 12:27
Something smells
Prince Edward Island and northern Nova Scotia fishermen are scratching their heads in bewilderment these days over lower-than-expected prices for spring lobster. At the halfway point in the season, it’s well past time for some straight answers from buyers, processors and shippers. All market factors heading into the May 1 opening indicated a strong season for prices, certainly matching, if not surpassing, 2017. Yet, the latest fish price report indicates otherwise. The price per pound for canner lobster ranges between $5 and $5.50, while markets are fetching $6 to $6.50. That’s a $1 drop since opening day and about $1 less than last year — comparable with prices paid in 2002. >click to read<17:44
California crabbers concede 25 cents
Local commercial Dungeness crab fishermen return to their trade today but will receive 25 cents per pound less for their catch than when they started the season earlier this month. Following a meeting on Monday, crabbers in Brookings, Crescent City, Trinidad, Eureka and Fort Bragg agreed to resume fishing on Tuesday, said Rick Shepherd, president of the Del Norte Fisherman’s Marketing Association. Seafood buyers are now paying fishermen $2.50 per pound, Shepherd said. “We’re trying to hold that $2.75, but we don’t know how long we’d have to sit to do it,” he said. “There’s not much else we can do.” >click to read<11:07 
N.B. lobster fishermen discouraged by lower prices
The Maritime Fishermen’s Union is voicing concerns about the low prices its members are getting paid for their catches in southeastern New Brunswick this season and suggesting protests could follow. Wages currently sit at $4.75 a pound per market lobster and $4.25 a pound per can of lobster — nearly $2 less than what was expected, according to MFU organizer Michel Richard. There is “no excuse for such a low price,” Richard told CBC’s Information Morning Moncton on Monday, as lobster season entered its second week. “It’s very troubling, and our fishermen are trying to reason why this is happening, and the excuses are not realistic,” he said. click here to read the story 18:33
Price, and not crab, on the table: Buyers, commercial fishermen discussing rates
Crab pots were set off the coast of Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay Friday and will be offered to buyers seeking to determine how much meat the crustaceans will yield, said Jim Anderson, a crabber and member of the state’s Dungeness Crab Task Force. With forecasts predicting poor ocean conditions for this weekend’s kickoff to an abnormally short season, Anderson said the annual process of determining how meaty the crab are isn’t expected to set fishermen back too far. “On Monday they’ll have an understanding of what the crab looks like and then set the price. Then sometime shortly thereafter we’ll go fishing,” Anderson said. “We always do this to give them some kind of idea of what the value of the crab is. We waited this long, we surely don’t want to go harvest bad crab for the consumer.” Read the article here 08:45
Lobster levy regulations for buyers approved by P.E.I. cabinet
The P.E.I. cabinet has approved new regulations that will see a one-cent-per-pound lobster levy collected from buyers next spring. P.E.I. Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Alan McIsaac said this is the final step for the province, since the regulations for a one-cent-per-pound levy for lobster fishermen were passed in the summer. “The regulations are now going to be in place for both the harvesters and the buyers,” said McIsaac. The money will be used for marketing. Read the article here 07:49
Buyer: Lobster fee deal must involve fishermen
Any belief that a potential lobster marketing fee can move ahead without fishermen from southwestern Nova Scotia was categorically put to rest Monday by a buyer from the region. Terry Zinck was reacting to comments made Thursday by Fisheries Minister Keith Colwell who said any potential agreement on a fee could be reached with buyers only in the province’s largest lobster fishery. Colwell clarified the comment a day later, saying any contribution from lobster buyers and processors would require the support of the entire industry. Read the rest here 10:24
Hit by low prices – Report by former P.E.I. auditor general finds fishermen, processors, buyers all suffering
An independent review into low lobster prices has concluded a series of issues have hurt what fishermen are being paid on the wharf, but that processors and buyers are also suffering. more@cbcnews 08:04
