Low prices, tariffs impact Maritime lobster industry

The ongoing China tariffs on lobsters are impacting prices in the Maritimes.

At $12 a pound, the two, two-pound lobsters Michael Hillier is picking up for dinner are cheaper today than they were just a couple months ago

“Down at the wharf, it’s not much different, maybe nine or $10 over the last few years, so it’s reasonable, very reasonable,” he said.

The lobster season off the southern part of Nova Scotia is coming to a close. Traps must be out of the water by the end of May and, like the ocean, the season has been rough at times.

“I’d say we’re down probably 70 per cent now, but we did good the first of the season,” says seller Sherry Osborne.

Osborne’s husband has been fishing for 40 years. She sells some of the catch from a trailer in Cole Harbour.

Despite a decrease in supply, the price hasn’t climbed.

“Fifteen dollars was the peak we ever got, the highest in February. Last year it was at $22 in February,” Osborne says.

“Last year we saw much higher prices with much higher volume. So right now we see low volumes, but also a low price,” confirms Colin Sproul.

Sproul is the president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association. He says there’s two reasons – China retaliated to tariffs on electric vehicles with a 25 per cent levy on Canadian seafood, cutting into exports. Secondly, expanding control of the market by a handful of companies

“Seeing the conglomeration of fishery processing and export capacity into fewer and fewer hands until we get to the point now, where there are a couple of large corporate entities that essentially own all of our fishery processing, logistics, and exporting.”

So for now, Osborne can only focus on selling her husband’s catch and taking home what they can get.

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