Thursday at midnight marks the end of the 2017-2018 fall lobster season in LFA’s 33 and 34.
Final catch numbers aren’t available yet.
But Yarmouth fisherman Bernie Berry says catches in 34 were decent.
“I think as we get the true numbers later in the summer as they’re tabulated, LFA 34 might be out just marginally, maybe 5, 6 7 per cent. That’s just a drop in the bucket.”
Berry, president of the Coldwater Lobster Association, says while the quality was good, the price was down a bit this year.
He says the shore price opened at $5.75, peaked at $13, with a closing price at around $6.50.
It was $8 last year.
In 2016-17 combined landings in LFA’s 33 and 34 were just over 30,200 tonnes with a landed value of $490 million.
Lobster remains Nova Scotia’s top seafood export, with a value at $947 million in 2017.
Meanwhile, commercial lobster fishermen are worried about more illegal activity this summer.
First Nations fishermen are permitted to fish during the summer, under the Food, Social and Ceremonial fishery (FSC).
Berry says lobster breed in the summer and DFO and other regulators can’t sit idly by like they did last year while the stock is put in jeopardy by those who don’t follow the rules.
“We’re not opposed to the FSC Fishery. First Nations has a right to do that but there’s something surrounding the FSC Fishery that’s basically a poaching operation. It’s a lot of lobsters. It’s very concerning. Not just here (Yarmouth), but right up to St. Margaret’s Bay to St. Mary’s Bay.”
Tempers flared last year and commercial fishermen protested, over reports that some Native fishermen were selling lobster on the black market, aided in some cases, by non-Natives.