Tag Archives: Prices
Local fishermen report mixed results in commercial season so far
Nearly a dozen commercial fishing boats queued for gas and ice at the fuel dock on a foggy Saturday morning. The low tide set the pace slow enough for fishermen to talk to one another about the season even though they were eager to get underway. Boats bobbed up and down with names like Easy Street, Rustler, High Surf, Crown Haines, and Minnie A. Then the sun made its way through the morning clouds and the salty breeze carried the sounds of ice and fuel rolling through large plastic hoses hanging from the dock. It’s the third week since the season opener and fishermen like Matt Davis reflected on how the winds have shifted. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:30
Copper River continues lead in PWS commercial salmon harvests
With ice essentially gone from river systems, the sockeyes continued to weigh in heavier than through the same period a year ago, said fisheries biologist Jeremy Botz, in the Cordova office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The Bering River and Coghill districts were also open for 36-hour commercial runs on Monday, and the Eshamy district for a 24-hour period. Montague District opened for purse seiners for 24 hours, and the Southwestern district for 48 hours, also for seiners. Even with other wild Alaska salmon fisheries opening for the season, Copper River sockeyes were holding their own in Anchorage restaurants, with entrees of Copper River reds offered at $49 at Simon and Seafort’s and $32 for the entree at Orso. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:50
Massachusetts Record for Largest Lobster Caught
The price for fresh New England lobster changes frequently depending on the time of year, market conditions and suppliers. The price fluctuates so often that many seafood dealers and restaurants don’t even include it on their menus or websites. On April 1, 2024, Boston’s James Hook & Co. was advertising fresh lobster claw and tail meat at $85 per pound, fresh knuckle lobster meat at $90 per pound, and fresh lobster salad at $85 per pound. The Massachusetts Lobsterman’s Association claims the record for a lobster caught off the Massachusetts coast was “Big George,” caught off Cape Cod in 1974. The Association says George weighed 37.4 pounds with a total length of 2.1 feet. more, >>click to read<< 10:06
An almost exceptional season for Gaspé lobster fishermen
According to the Regrouping of Professional Fishermen of Southern Gaspésie, the 2022 season is second among the best fishing seasons for Gaspé lobster fishermen, after that of 2021. The General Manager of the Regrouping, O’Neil Cloutier, indicates that this observation can be made both from the point of view of prices and of the volumes caught. Gaspé fishermen brought 8,170,000 pounds of lobsters to the wharf in 2022, a decrease of about 2% compared to 2021. Prices followed the same trend, decreasing slightly. On average, anglers had received a record landed price of $8.35 per pound in 2021. They received an average of 40¢ less this year. >click to read< 10:43
Spring lobster season marked by challenges
An increase in carapace size for canners has meant catches were lower for lobster fishers this season. “In a lot of harbours that had an effect,” said Charlie McGeoghegan, board chair of the Lobster Fishers of PEI Marketing Board. “It will have a positive effect next year, it’s just the short term pain for long term gain kind of thing. Those (lobster) will be around next year, and they’ll be a lot bigger.” Bait was an issue fishers weren’t expecting to deal with this year leading up to the start of the season. Mackerel and herring are what lobster fishers primarily use for bait, many of whom catch the fish themselves, but on March 30, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the closure of those two commercial bait fisheries in Atlantic Canada, as there were concerns dwindling stocks have entered a critical zone. >click to read< 08:17
Lobster Season Comes to an end in LFA’s 33 & 34
Today is the last day in the season. It was a season of record prices according to the executive director of the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association, Dan Fleck. He says prices reached over $17 and discussed where they are at the close of the season “I would say $10. There are certain deals where people might be offered more in certain areas but we’re looking between $10 and $11 for a closing price in LFA 33 and 34.” Fleck is looking back on the season. While it was marked by rising fuel costs, he says it was also very safe. >click to read< 08:18
After a yearlong closure, Tanner crab season makes a comeback off Kodiak Island
Dave Kubiak spent a recent rainy Thursday stacking the deck of his boat, the Laura Lee, with crab pots in preparation for Kodiak’s Tanner crab season. According to him, the night before the season is always exciting. “We’ll leave in sufficient time to get there and to go someplace and anchor up,” he said. “And then wait for the morning and then run out and get all nervous and jittery on the opener, which is silly, but we do.” Kubiak said that he got a nickel per pound for Tanner crabs back in the 60s. Due to low supply and high demand across the country, prices for this season, which opens Jan. 15, are much higher,,, >click to read< 09:20
Nova Scotia: Nervous days for the lobster fleet
A pair of websites perpetually run on the computer of Stewart Lamont, managing director of Pleasant Harbour’s Tangier Lobster Co., who had a lot on his mind when I called Tuesday. Environment Canada, naturally, is one of the sites he constantly monitors. Lately the offshore winds, which, if overly strong, could disrupt the provincial lobster fishery that opened on Dec. 2, have been relatively tame. The issue, he explained over the telephone, is water temperature. At the critical mid-shore distance, five or six hours from land, the water Tuesday was less than 4 C, which he calls “an almost unfathomable drop” from around 11 C a year ago. >click to read<10:16
Slow going toward the 39M harvest forecast
Commercial salmon harvests in Prince William Sound topped the 15.4 million mark through July 31, up by three million fish over the previous week, compared to 20.4 million delivered by the same time a year ago. All five species of Pacific salmon are running below the catch rate or the same statistics week one year ago. The pink salmon harvest has reached nearly 11 million fish, compared to 13 million at this time in July of 2016, and this year’s forecast of 32.7 million humpies. Deliveries of sockeyes have reached 1.3 million fish, compared to a year-to-date harvest in 2017 of 1.4 million, and the keta harvest stood at 3.2 million fish, compared to a catch of 5.4 million chums through the same time last year. On the bright side, the Copper River district >click to read<13:47
Opinion: Alliance defends prices paid to lobster fishermen
I am writing on behalf of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, in response to the editorial reprinted from the Charlottetown Guardian in Friday’s Chronicle Herald complaining about the price Prince Edward Island lobster fishermen are getting in 2018 for their lobster. The Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance represents many Nova Scotia lobster buyers and processors, some of whom buy lobsters in P.E.I.,,, The suggestion of collusion among buyers to increase profit at the expense of fishermen is ridiculous and quite honestly insulting. >click to read<09:01
Lobster prices high, but dropping as summer approaches
Lobster prices are high in the U.S. right now, but members of the industry expect them to come down soon as the Canadian catch creeps up and America’s summer haul gets going. One-pound lobsters, which Mainers call “chicks,” are selling for about $12 per pound to consumers, which is a couple of dollars per pound more than six months ago. The U.S. lobster industry, based heavily in Maine, is in a slow mode as fishermen get ready to pull traps in the summer. >click to read<13:10
Middlemen cause retail fish price to soar
The soaring retail prices of fish can be attributed to the multiple middlemen involved, as the catch exchanges hands from the trawlers before it reaches the Goan homes. Although the authorities are trying hard to control the prices, all such efforts are going in vain due to the alleged nexus between the middlemen traders and fishermen groups, it is learnt.Both the consumers and producers gain immensely from the role of middlemen, who ensure that there is a seamless flow of fish supply in the market by matching supply and demand. Regardless of the important role they play, there are some disadvantages to having intermediaries in the distribution channel. click here to read the story 13:32
Lobster prices up over last year
Although lobster prices along the North Shore are up a bit from last year, some harvests have gone the other way, River John fisherman Ron Heighton says. “In most areas the catches are down,” said Heighton, who is also the long-serving president of the Northumberland Fishermen’s Union. “Price wise, we’re doing better than last year. And catch wise, in some areas the catches are as good as last year and in some areas they’re not.” Processers and buyers have been paying $6.50/lb. for market-sized lobster compared to about $5.75/lb. for the same period last year, Heighton said. Read the rest here 11:13
PEIFA president is optimistic, sees signs of higher prices
The president of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association is chomping at the bit to get the 2016 spring lobster fishery underway next weekend and he’s optimistic of higher prices. “Prices are tremendously high, over $8.00 a pound over in Nova Scotia right now,” Craig Avery said Friday. Avery, who will be setting out of Northport Harbour in Lobster Fishing Area 24 on April 30, estimated the starting price for a lobster fishery that got underway in Nova Scotia on April 19 to be between $2.00 and $2.50 a pound higher than what they got starting out in years past. “There’s a lot of optimism out there and we’re hoping, definitely, for a higher price than last year, for sure,” Avery commented. Read the rest here 14:47
As the Brownsville Shrimp Fleet is blessed, Prices are plummeting
Andrea Hance , executive director of the Brownsville-based Texas Shrimp Association, said the blessing is especially welcome this season. “Unfortunately this year the shrimp prices, they’re starting to plummet,” she said. “It’s not going to be pleasant this year. What’s happened, the imports have shot up.” “shrimp prices are about $3 lower per pound than this time last year. That’s too big of a change. We had a boat that came in the other day that averaged $3.50 a pound. (Prices) plummeted because the big nationwide buyers, they have too much inventory. Right now imports are about as high as they’ve ever been.” Read the rest here 14:37
