Clearwater Seafoods in Nova Scotia lays off workers in Lockeport and Arichat

Clearwater has sold a Nova Scotia lobster facility and has halted production at another.

LOCKEPORT, N.S. — Halifax-based Clearwater Seafoods announced Thursday plans to change its lobster operations, which will result in permanent and temporary job losses in Nova Scotia.

The company issued a statement confirming that a shift in focus to frozen-at-sea offshore harvesting will result in the shutdown of its lobster processing line at a plant in Lockeport, N.S., and the sale of a lobster pound in southern Cape Breton.

Lockeport Mayor Derek Amalfa said about half of the 145 people employed at the Pierce Fisheries plant in the town will lose their jobs, but the plant will remain open to process scallops.

About 480 people live in Lockeport. The plant is the coastal town’s largest employer, processing about four million kilograms of sea scallops and lobster annually.

“It’s a lot of shock and sadness,” Amalfa said in an interview. “All of the people who lost their jobs are longtime employees, and they are all our friends and neighbours and family. This is going to have a deep impact in our community.”

The mayor said officials with the company told him the layoffs were necessary because economic factors made the seasonal lobster processing business unsustainable.

“Right now, we are just trying to look after one another,” said Amalfa, who was elected in October. “It’s a scary time. But we are a very resilient and close-knit community, so I have no doubts that our community will rally and we will continue to support one another.”

The company issued a statement confirming the shutdown and the pending sale of a live lobster holding facility in Arichat, N.S., which will be temporarily shut down until it is sold to an “experienced local operator.”

Clearwater did not say how many people would be laid off in the Cape Breton community of Arichat, but the company said the employees there will “transition to the new owner of the facility.”

“We are refocusing our lobster business on the offshore harvesting operations,” the company’s statement said, adding that it plans to buy a new offshore vessel. “These changes are difficult but necessary to increase resilience and secure the long-term health of the business in challenging market conditions.”

Clearwater employs 1,100 people across Atlantic Canada.

The company’s revenue for the third quarter of 2024 increased by $4.5 million to $154.1 million, mainly because of improved harvesting of scallops off Argentina, the sale of clam inventories that were carried over from prior quarters and improved turbot catch rates.

The company, however, said this good news was offset by below-average harvesting for Canadian scallops, clams and deep-sea lobsters.

In January 2021, Premium Brands Holdings Inc. partnered with seven Mi’kmaq communities -- led by the Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton and Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador -- to finalize the purchase of Clearwater for a total investment of $1 billion.

Membertou Chief Terry Paul has said the 50 per cent share purchased by the communities was the largest ever investment by Indigenous bands in the Canadian seafood industry.

Aside from scallops and lobster, Clearwater harvests other seafood in Canada, Argentina and the United Kingdom, with sales in 48 countries around the world as of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025.