Region's lobstermen meet for first time on P.E.I.

First published in Landings, February, 2014.

Lobstermen from the U.S. and Canada have a lot to gain by working together. After all, lobstermen on both sides of the border catch the same species, market their catches to the same countries, and deal with the same obstacles – weather, dropping prices and ever-rising expenses -- in their daily activities. Yet the struggles of Maine and Maritime lobstermen are often cast in the media as a competition against the other. Thus the two day January meeting of lobstermen from Canada and the United States, organized by the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) and held on the island in late January, was precedent setting.

“Progress on addressing the issues facing the lobster fishery will require action on both sides of the border,” said PEIFA president Mike McGeoghegan. The meeting, which was open only to lobstermen, was attended by fishermen from Newfoundland, the Magdalen Islands, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Maine Lobstermen’s Association executive director Patrice McCarron and MLA board members David Cousens, Jim Dow, Bobby Ingalls, and John Williams traveled to PEI to take part in the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss measures that could be taken to benefit all lobstermen. “We came up with five prioritized actions that all agreed on,” said McCarron. Among those was creation of a North Atlantic lobster harvester group, members of which would be drawn from already existing organizations in the region. “It would be a loose association, basically to share information,” McCarron continued. “It would help us all get beyond the rumors and really improve communications.” Another measure would be to improve understanding of how the markets are behaving at any given time. Sharing that information on both sides of the border would help build transparency in supply and demand for North Atlantic lobster.

While there were specific action items to come from the meeting, the more important result was intangible, according to McCarron. “You get a bunch of people in the room who don’t know each other but instantly they get along. The amount of common interest was striking. There was a lot of mutual respect,” she commented.

“Better collaboration among lobstermen will be good to see,” added Jim Dow, vice-president of the MLA. “They have all the same issues we have. We need to stay in contact and know what the Canadians are doing, when their seasons open and so forth.”

Maine appears to be ahead of the game in certain aspects of brand development and market expansion, McCarron said. “The MLA monitors the price paid for lobster each week. The Maine fishery received Marine Stewardship Council certification last year. We have the new Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative to build consumer demand,” McCarron said. “It was empowering to see that we are doing many of the right things here in Maine.”

Perhaps coincidentally, during the course of the two-day meeting the fisheries ministers of the Maritime Provinces announced that a Lobster Value Recovery Summit will be held on March 26 and 27. The summit will focus on the key recommendations put forth in the Maritime Lobster Panel report, released in November, and the changes necessary to strengthen the lobster industry.

As the meeting closed, PEIFA president McGeoghegan struck an optimistic note. “As an industry, we need to recognize that markets are international. The conversations started here today can help us to better address the common issues facing fishers on both sides of the border,” he said.