Panel makes recommendations to sustain Maritime lobster industry

AMHERST, N.S. – An independent panel has made 33 recommendations for changes needed to sustain the billion-dollar Maritime lobster industry.

Lobster prices plummeted in 2013, causing some Maritimes-based fishermen to protest by keeping their traps on-shore for a week in May.

“The members of the panel took the time they needed to carry out an extensive consultation process over the past several months and I am confident that their recommendations will give us the foundation to move forward on the challenges facing the lobster industry,” said Michael Olscamp, the New Brunswick minister of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries, in a release.

Olscamp later said that “everyone’s got to be a part of it for it to work.”

READ: The full report from the Maritime lobster panel

The panel, which was appointed by the fisheries ministers to examine factors affecting lobster prices, is comprised of Gilles Theriault of New Brunswick, John Hanlon of Nova Scotia and Lewie Creed of Prince Edward Island.

According to a government of Nova Scotia release, the panel has met with about 100 organizations since July that represent fishermen, buyers, shippers, processors, brokers and First Nations throughout the Maritimes, Newfoundland, Quebec and the state of Maine.

The panel also received almost 30 submissions from organizations, companies and individuals.

“We are very confident that the industry will support this notion,” said Theriault. “It’s going to happen one way or the other, and we think the best way is to do it in a well-thought out manner.”

The report recommends a levy of one cent per pound to be paid by fishermen, and another cent per pound to be paid by the onshore side of the industry, such as buyers and processors.

It says 85 per cent of the funds raised by the levy would be used for advertising campaigns run by the Lobster Council of Canada.

The remaining amount would go to support an institute that would provide fishermen with timely information on the prices being offered to harvesters before they land their catch.

“I think it’s a great report,” said Keith Colwell, Nova Scotia Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. “I think it’s time we start to really look at the implementation, because if we don’t, we’re not going to have an industry.”

The report also suggests the creation of a joint marketing board for the Maritimes and calls on the industry to set up standards that would allow for prices depending on the quality of the catch.

With files from Laura Brown and The Canadian Press