The good news after almost a week on the water is that lobster catches have been good in LFA 24.
However, rumors that prices will be down to $4 for canners and $4.50 for markets, has fishermen at western ports worried. On Tuesday morning buyers and processors from West Prince said they could not confirm a price as of yet but they heard the rumors.

Craig Avery, president of the Western Gulf Fishermen’s Association is convinced that with fewer buyers on the wharves, it is easier for them to fix prices.

“I got more than that 15 years ago,” he said after hearing what was being bandied around for a price. All signs were pointing towards better prices this spring since inventory is down and the market in Europe and Asia is still strong. Consumers in Spain are paying $80 for lobster at a restaurant, he said.

He noted that the American dollar is about the same as it was last year at this time so that can’t be used as an excuse for cutting the shore price. Last year the season started with $5 and $5.75.

Fishermen usually expect premium prices prior to Mother’s Day, followed by a cut. If that happens this year, Mr Avery said they may as well tie their boats up at the wharf.

Fishermen from Lismore and Antigonish, Nova Scotia in LFA 26A are receiving a straight price of $5 a pound for the live market. Ed Frenette, manager of the PEI Fishermen’s Association said there’s a corporate concentration of buyers in the industry now. He speculates they are working together to choke out commission buyers, who have a niche market and pay more. This has served fishermen well in the past by forcing up shore prices.

“Something the fishermen like is more buyers on the wharf,” he said.
At the present time, fishermen say they are at the mercy of the buyers since there is no legislation in place governing the mechanism for establishing shore prices. He said this is something the association has been working towards but government has not been on side.

“It’s a stamp fishery right now,” Mr Avery commented. “We’re forced into fishing because we only have eight weeks on the water to make our living. It’s just a break even fishery,”

He said fishermen count on the first five weeks of the season to get the bulk of their catch since it tends to drop once the water warms. He believes that the government is making things far too complicated for buyers to come to PEI. This year some buyers were left out because they didn’t get their applications in by the April 15 deadline.

Such was the case with Brian Newell, owner of RBN Fisheries from Volger’s Cove on the south shore of Nova Scotia. He is purchasing snow crab on the island now, but he was turned down for buying lobsters. “I was too late getting in,” he said vowing that it won’t happen next year when he intends to be on the wharves offering a fair price to island fishermen.

His company is paying $5 and $5.25 at the present time. “The same companies buying PEI lobster are paying fishermen in Nova Scotia $5.25 and $5. They are discriminating against the Island fishermen by not paying them the same,” Mr Newell said in a telephone interview, Monday night.
He has been in business since 1986 and knows the importance that extra dollar a pound means to fishermen. Island fishermen will be losing an average of $15,000 per boat a season based on a 1500 pound catch a day if the price is a dollar less.

“These people who are getting the lobster cheap over there are dropping the price in the market and destroying it,” he said. Big companies, he explained, are trying to squeeze him out of the business since they pay less for the product and can afford to sell it for less.

“Where we come from here, we call it price fixing,” he said. Prices vary in Nova Scotia too. Fishermen were getting as high as $8.50 a pound earlier this year and it only dropped recently to $5.25. He said fishermen there were looking for $12 a pound and they may get it later in the year.
“The difference is we all do what we want here. Over there (PEI) the buyers get together to decide a price and control the fishermen. Everyone is company owned,” he said.