It's lobster season on the Island again.
Island lobster fishermen set their traps on Friday, the official first day of the 2010 season, and made their first landings on Saturday.
Norman Peters, a fisherman of over 40 years from Covehead who fishes in Rustico Village, said he was pleased with his landing on Saturday.
"(The landing) was not too bad for the first day," Peters said. "Traps were set overnight and just getting soaked up and looked pretty good."
One thing he noticed was how the warm weather has affected the location of the lobsters this spring, Peters said.
"There was no ice so we are finding lobsters are close in (to the shore). We're not sure how it's going to affect the season yet."
The traps were set about 30-40 feet from the shore, Peters said.
"I can't remember a spring when we set the traps in that close."
He is hoping for an improvement in prices this year, which are not set yet, and has had early indications of what to expect from prices in New Brunswick, which started the season about a week ago, Peters said.
"What we're hearing over there is $2.75 for canners and $3.25 for markets but we don't know for sure."
Last year, the price of lobster started at $3 but after about a week, dropped to $2.75 and caused a lot of concern among fishermen, who are hoping for better prices this season.
Lobster landings 'not too bad' for opening day, veteran fisherman says
Andrew Roberts of the lobster boat Misty Blue Waters loads some lobsters into a pail for sale at the Wharf at Covehead Harbour Saturday. It was the first day of lobster landings and catches and sales were good, many fishermen said. Prices paid by buyers w
- Published on May 3rd, 2010
- Published on June 19th, 2010
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Al MacLeod
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Comments
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- Greeneyedmonster
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:35:54
CAT MAC and country boy = twin idiots!
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- peeved@prices
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:32:48
Some people have no idea what it takes/costs to run a fishing vessel in PEI.. especially on the South Shore. Fish from 5am - 9pm, fuel to sail for all this time, cost of bait, and cost of your second man, not to mention god forbid if your boat requires maintenance. Lets look @ the big picture.
1. Fishermen keep getting low prices (because that is what processors decided to give them cause there isn't quite as many lobsters sitting in their freezers as they like to let on)
2. Once these fishermen realize eventually they can't keep fishing for NOTHING.. and they are going in the hole. They stop where does the $ come in that will replace all the income that fishing brings into our economy.
3. There are enough peple out there now looking for work.... all those unemployed fishermen will be added to the mix.. then we now have more $$ being paid out by the government... and nothing coming in.. cause there is nothing being paid in by fishermen.!!
Processors are taking advantage of our fishermen... cause they know this is their only source of income.. Government needs to step in and regulate lobster prices... like they do for other natural resources!! Very few fishermen actually have their hand out begging for money.. like some islanders who are simply to lazy to work! They only ask for support and fairness.. which isn't too much to ask for!!! -
- Steve
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:31:18
...surprised there are no negative comments on here about fishermen, would be the island way if there were!
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- Big boy
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:23:01
Hey Country boy.. I would like to venture a guess that the big tax bills that some of the older fisherman have are paying your wages... Now gef back to work and try to get educated on the lobster fishery instead of whining about it. The only overhead you have is whatever your putting in your luch can tomorrow morning.
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- Country Dude
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:20:02
still have never heard what people think our primary industries should be.
no one seems to think farming or fishing should be helped.
Where do yhey expect the money to come from?
Been asking for a long time. No one has stepped up yet with a decent suggestion. -
- Country Dude
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:11:13
The silence is deafening.
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- country boy
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:09:59
Steve, the only time people post negative comments regarding Fisherman is when they want to put their hands into our pockets to support their business with our taxes. Other than that we wish the fishers all success.
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- Steve
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:57:45
i disagree with you country boy, don't go saying stuff like that about one of our main industries, it would be like an albertan criticizing robert ghiz and pei for all the money they waste and how we are a terrible province...oh wait
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- chris
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:46:09
andrew!!! wake up, the lobsters are jumping out of the bucket... lots of time to sleep later...
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- CAT
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:45:25
$3.00 a pound is still good money when you avg 5 to 800 pounds a day don't like the price don't sell put storege tanks on the wharfs so your not at the mercy of the buyers
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- Mark
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:44:16
Even at $3.00/lb that is going to be tough to make any money at all! People tend to forget the massive expenses that go along with running , buying and maintaining the gear to fish. The season is short and a gamble. If we as consumers want to enjoy the product then we should stand behind our guys who bring us the product.
