A rep with a local fishing association says the price of lobster is low despite reasonable demand.
Duane Boudreau, the president of the Gulf Nova Scotia Bonafide Fishermen’s Association, says they’re getting $4/pound for canners and $4.25/pound for markets.
Boudreau tells The Hawk that’s alongside higher-than-expected demand and big early catches.
“(Catches have) definitely leveled off- that’s typical of most seasons,” he says. “We usually start with a bang and end with a whimper.”
Boudreau says COVID-19 has had an impact, with lower demand from China and a two-week delay to start the 2020 season.
He says it’s not clear exactly how much of an impact there’s been just yet.
Boudreau says they lost two weeks due to COVID-19, a quarter of the two-month season.
He says they’ve asked officials with the federal government to extend the lobster season past the normal June 30 finish, but haven’t gotten a response yet.
“We’re hopeful- historically if there’s a delay of more than four days, we’re supposed to be guaranteed four days,” he says. “This year is a little different, because it was a COVID-19 delay.”
Boudreau says the delay has had one upside- they haven’t lost any days due to weather.
He says the mid-May start saved them from the worst of the weather they normally face.
“We missed the first two weeks of the season, which is typically where we have the majority of our bad weather,” he says. “There’s been a few days sprinkled here and there that were rather rough out there, but nothing that wasn’t (fishable).”
Boudreau says the usual source of lost days is ice, but the delay made that a non-issue this time around.
