Lobster fishermen in New Brunswick continue to reap the benefits of strong catches and a good price, following the opening of the season on November 8. They also note that the lobsters have been of higher quality this year.
     Laurence Cook, chair of the Lobster Sector of the Grand Manan Fishermen's Association, looks to the future of the area's dominant fishery by commenting, "Right now it looks pretty rosy, but it could change drastically. There are plenty of lobsters, plenty of large lobsters, plenty of berried lobsters." Although warming waters because of climate change or shell disease could affect the lobster stocks at some point, he says, "It's hard to find anything wrong. Right now, it looks really, really good."
     Cook believes that overall catches around Grand Manan are "down a touch," but some boats are doing "very, very good." While it may not be "the best year ever," he also doesn't believe it's the start of a decline in catches.
     Agreeing with Cook is Stuart McKay, manager of Paturel International's operations on Deer Island. "It's been a reasonably good season," he says. McKay believes that the Grand Manan fishery has been "stronger than last year," up perhaps 5% to 10%, he estimates. Catches in the inshore areas have been of good quality, with lobsters from the offshore fishery being softer.
     McKay notes that the Lorneville area started off with good catches but they dropped off more quickly than expected. Fishermen around Deer Island have had catches as good as last year.
     "The quality has been exceptional everywhere," says McKay, noting that the lobsters have harder shells this year. "We anticipated that," he says. "With the warmer waters earlier in the summer they molted earlier than in the previous few years."
     Cook notes, though, that the hard-shell lobsters are not as hungry, which may explain why some catches have been down a bit. Last year there were more soft-shelled lobsters, which were "very catchable," he says.
     Both Cook and McKay note that the high-running tides have slowed down the catches, since lobsters move more when the tides are slack.
     So far this season, the price that fishermen have been receiving has been "quite good," says McKay. The continuing high value of the U.S. dollar compared to the Canadian dollar helps with the price, since McKay notes that dealers sell the product in U.S. dollars. Currently one U.S. dollar is equal to $1.35 Canadian.
     Fishermen in the mainland areas have been receiving between $6.50 and $6.75 a pound, while the price around Grand Manan has been about $6.35. Last year the average price was around $6.25, which was a $2 jump from the previous year.
     Cook says that the price has been "really good." The industry has expanded its market, he notes. "The market is really, really good," with higher-quality lobsters that can be sold anywhere.
     Paturel sells about 60% of its product to the live lobster market, with 40% to the frozen and processed market. About 40% of its live market is in the U.S., with the rest sold internationally. For frozen product, about 60% is sold into the U.S.
      The company currently has about 140 workers at its operations on Deer Island, which is about the same number as last year. A number of the workers are Filipinos, and last year Paturel and other employers in Canada who hire foreign workers had raised concerns about the federal government's changes to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program that had placed more stringent limits on the number of foreign workers at one work site. McKay says that the new Liberal government is paying much more attention to the issue than the previous Conservative government and is working on some new programs "to bring resolution to the problems in the industry." He adds, "We've not seen anything brought forward yet, but the government is working on something for 2017."