Latest news with #BayofFundyInshoreFishermen'sAssociation
Global News
02-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
Lobster fishers raise alarm about low Canadian prices, some giving up on season
Lobster fishers around Atlantic Canada are speaking out about this year's prices, with some saying it's unfairly low this season. Prices haven't officially been announced yet, but some fishers are saying they've heard it could be 'dollars' lower than 2024's figures. 'I would say the prices have never been lower than this, when you recognize the extreme upswing in costs to harvest lobster,' said Colin Sproul with the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association. 'I hear reports of our membership in southwest Nova Scotia giving up on the season and landing their traps, because they can't fish at the prices that are being offered to them.' The Maritime Fishers Union's president says that rumoured buyers' prices hover around $6 to $6.50 a pound, which he says is unreasonable and an insult to fishers. Story continues below advertisement The union's executive treasurer, Bruce Wilson, says it feels like fishers are being taken advantage of. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'They wait until the last minute and drop the price and keep it as low as possible,' he said. 2:00 Canada's Atlantic Lobster faces grave danger as China's tariffs take effect Sproul alleges the problem is price-setting, which is being undertaken by a few big industry groups. 'But that is illegal in Canada, and there's a simple name to describe that: it's a cartel,' he said. However, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, Kris Vascotto, disagrees with that assertion, and says buyers have to consider a volatile market — while lobster is a premium product. 'I've watched a dramatic softening of the live market over the last month or so. It has been incredible with the increased turbulence that we're seeing in the global economy … We're watching the price drop in every single market that we access,' he said. Story continues below advertisement Meanwhile, Wilson says hundreds of local fishers are planning to stay docked on Friday. Others are going so far as considering buying their own fish plants. 'Our lobster season's only two months. We've got to do a full year of living out of two months,' said Wilson. — with a file from Global News' Rebecca Lau
CTV News
25-04-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Low prices, tariffs impact Maritime lobster industry
The ongoing China tariffs on lobsters are impacting prices in the Maritimes. The ongoing China tariffs on lobsters are impacting prices in the Maritimes. At $12 a pound, the two, two-pound lobsters Michael Hillier is picking up for dinner are cheaper today than they were just a couple months ago 'Down at the wharf, it's not much different, maybe nine or $10 over the last few years, so it's reasonable, very reasonable,' he said. The lobster season off the southern part of Nova Scotia is coming to a close. Traps must be out of the water by the end of May and, like the ocean, the season has been rough at times. 'I'd say we're down probably 70 per cent now, but we did good the first of the season,' says seller Sherry Osborne. Osborne's husband has been fishing for 40 years. She sells some of the catch from a trailer in Cole Harbour. Eastern Passage Fishing boats are pictured in Eastern Passage, N.S., on April 25, 2025. (CTV Atlantic/Jonathan MacInnis) Despite a decrease in supply, the price hasn't climbed. 'Fifteen dollars was the peak we ever got, the highest in February. Last year it was at $22 in February,' Osborne says. 'Last year we saw much higher prices with much higher volume. So right now we see low volumes, but also a low price,' confirms Colin Sproul. Sproul is the president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen's Association. He says there's two reasons – China retaliated to tariffs on electric vehicles with a 25 per cent levy on Canadian seafood, cutting into exports. Secondly, expanding control of the market by a handful of companies 'Seeing the conglomeration of fishery processing and export capacity into fewer and fewer hands until we get to the point now, where there are a couple of large corporate entities that essentially own all of our fishery processing, logistics, and exporting.' So for now, Osborne can only focus on selling her husband's catch and taking home what they can get. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
