Tag Archives: P.E.I. Seafood Processors Association
North Atlantic right whales causing ‘mess’ for P.E.I. lobster crews forced to move traps
Due to federal protocols, fishers had until Tuesday at 5 p.m. AT to move their gear out of waters deeper than 10 fathoms, about 18 metres, to protect the whales sighted late last week. The measure will last for 15 days, unless the whales are still in the area. Then the fishing area would be closed for at least another 15 days. “That’s not going to be good,” said Tony Clements, who fishes out of Northport. “We’re hoping for the best,” said David Henderson, who also moved 120 of his traps out of the closed zone. Out of 1,260 fishers, about 700 have already fully or partly converted to the whale-safe gear that will be mandatory by 2024. >click to read< 16:57
P.E.I. fishers call spring lobster prices ‘a slap in the face’
Harvesters say they’re getting between $6.50 and $7 per pound from processors — less than last year, and about half what they were getting a few years ago. “That price we got in 2006, and you could buy a fishing fleet in 2006 for $200,000 and now they’re $1.5 million to $2 million. Everything has gone up … bait, fuel, engines, pickup trucks, rope, traps, buoys, everything,” McGeoghegan said. “So to expect us to go fishing for a price that’s 18 years old is a slap in the face. And we know for a fact … that the demand is high, higher than it’s been in the last 10 years, and supply is the lowest it’s been in 10 years.” Photos, >click to read< 07:52
P.E.I.’s fall lobster fishery coping with low prices and high costs
One week after the fall lobster season opened on Prince Edward Island, some fishers are worried. Prices are at least $2 to $3 less a pound than they were just a few months ago, in some cases as low as half of what they were in the spring lobster fishery. “The most common price in the last few days is in the $4.75 to $5 range,” said Charlie McGeoghegan, who chairs the Lobster P.E.I. board. McGeoghegan said the problem of low lobster prices is compounded by the high cost of putting a boat in the water these days. “The price of fuel hasn’t gone down much,,, Jerry Gavin, executive director of the P.E.I. Seafood Processors Association, says there’s still a lot of lobster meat in storage from the spring fishery. “There’s a lot of meat in inventory and that certainly wasn’t the case last year, so yes, it’s going to be a tougher fall for fishers. >click to read< 13:48
P.E.I. lobster falls by $2 a pound
Earlier this month, fishers were selling their catches for around $8 for canners and $8.50 for markets, the highest prices in about 15 years. Charlie McGeoghegan, chair of the Lobster Marketing Board of P.E.I., said the price went as high as $8.50 a pound for canners and $9.00 for markets. Now those prices have dropped. “We were glad to see that first week, the price where it was. To our disappointment though, the Monday after Mother’s Day, they dropped it in a lot of cases [by] two dollars a pound,”,, >click to read< 17:14
Prince Edward Island Lobster fishermen prepare for fall season after challenging spring
“I’m feeling good about the season,” said Peter Hustler, who has been fishing since he was 15. “Everybody has to make an income.” Demand for lobster plummeted as the pandemic forced restaurants to close earlier this year. The price dropped as low as $3.50 per pound. “It hurts, it hurts, and it hurt this spring, too, but I think everything is going to work out,” he said. “I’d like to see the price at $4.50 or $5 … and I believe it might happen.” >click to read< 19:09
PEISPA, PEIFA disappointed with the opening date of fall lobster season
The opening day is Monday, Aug. 10. A media release issued from the PEISPA explains this date will create difficulty for lobster processors to handle the large number of lobsters that will be harvested in the first week. The release goes on to say the fall season would usually start on Aug. 9, but since that date falls on a Sunday this year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) supported changing the opening date. “We are very disappointed that DFO rejected our simple but impactful request to start the fall fishery on Aug. 7,” said Jerry Gavin, executive director of the PEISPA. The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) also made a formal request for an earlier start date, confirmed executive director Ian MacPherson. >click to read< 09:54
The 2020 P.E.I. spring lobster season that almost didn’t happen because of coronavirus, comes to an end
The spring lobster season on P.E.I. ended July 4 after a late start on May 15, in a year when fishermen faced low prices and catch limits due to a shortage of labour in processing plants. After losing the crucial first two weeks of the season, fishermen saw a glut of lobsters, pulling in more than buyers would take. There are eight processing plants on Prince Edward Island that deal with lobster. “At the end of the day, we had a season. That meant job creation and it also meant wealth creation for the province during a time when a lot of the other sectors were suffering,” >click to read< 19:30
Seafood processors, fishermen unite in opposing temporary foreign workers changes
The P.E.I. Seafood Processors Association and the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association have united in calling for a reversal of Ottawa’s sweeping reforms of the temporary foreign worker program — reforms they say will have a devastating impact on the Island’s seafood industry. Read more here 22:15
PEI: Fish processors look to students to fill labour void
Island fish processors are doing everything they can to fill the labour shortage that caused the to stall earlier this week—including recruiting students. Read more here 08:16
Worker shortage leaves lobster at the wharves
A lobster buyer in Georgetown told CBC News Tuesday there’s just too much lobster being caught right now all through the region. David Conrad said his fishermen were on quota Tuesday and would be again Wednesday, but said the situation is worse for others. Read more here 07:09
Lobster boats tie up Tuesday as processors seek fish plant workers
“Where it really hurts is where one harbour is on a quota and the harbour next to them isn’t. One buyer puts his fishermen on a quota and the other fellows don’t,’’ Campbell said. “That’s where it affects them — it really affects them.’’ Read more here 19:32
PEI: Labour shortage cause of lobster quotas, says processor group
You understand the chronic labour shortage our industry is facing. So now that the daily landings have become as large as they are it’s making it difficult to process lobsters throughout the region.” King, who speaks for eight P.E.I. processors, said they could use 400 employees at those plants right now. One plant in particular in the eastern region, is operating at 55 per cent capacity. Read more here 10:06
Maritime fishermen remain in port to protest rock-bottom lobster prices – “It’s a dysfunctional system,”
The Tyee – Peter Dowd of the Gulf Nova Scotia Bonafide Fishermen’s Association said fishermen need to be invited to the table to discuss how they can secure a fair price. He says people in some parts of Nova Scotia were hearing that the price would be as high as $6 a pound early in the season and then dropped to about $3. “The protest is about how is it possible that the market has changed so drastically,” he said from Antigonish, where fishermen met again to discuss the way forward. “It doesn’t make sense that to most of the fishermen how the market could fluctuate so much.” continued ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
