Maritime lobster fishermen are tying up their boats, protesting prices they say are so low they can no longer afford to fish. While prices are a constant flashpoint, this year a ‘stunning’ development and a new stamp of sustainability are complicating matters. Here are three challenges fishermen are grappling with this season:
Prices and protest
“This is huge,” says Colin Runighan, a 37-year-old lobster fisherman from Launching Pond, PEI, about the strike that started in PEI earlier this week and spread to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. “Fishermen are being taken advantage of and people are getting rich off of our backs.”
Mr. Runighan, a fisherman of 11 years, has never seen prices so low – processors are offering around $3 per pound for lobster and fishermen say they need at least $5 to survive.
In other areas, such as Maine, Newfoundland and Quebec, lobster fishermen are getting higher prices, between $4.50 and $5, according to the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association.
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