Don't sell your lobsters
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- Honest Lobster Buyer
- - January 14, 2012 at 00:44:22
Very good post by you to Common Sense,you are also right on the money!
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- Honest Lobster Buyer
- - January 14, 2012 at 00:41:58
Very good & right on the money post, ABEL & TRGO
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- Common Sense
- - January 13, 2012 at 11:08:48
It's all well and good to demand more money. What isn't discussed is that catches in the past 10-15 yrs have significantly increased. It wasn't that long ago that catching 60,000 lbs for the season was remarkable. This year, there are countless boats that have landed 60, 70, even 100 thousand pounds already. That's twice the catch at half the price. Seems like a perfect example of an elastic supply/demand situation. But then again, when the price was $15 a few yrs ago, many thought it should be higher. It's a sick industry that is not going to be fixed in a few "evangelical" meetings that don't follow Robsterson's rules at all. Not a single counting of votes in the video from the 2 meetings so far. Where's the democratic process? Also, there's a big difference between an association working on issues and a for profit company buying lobsters from all the boats. Then again, could be a different story next week.
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- trgo
- - January 12, 2012 at 22:50:31
$5.50 per pound certainly sounds like a good idea, but ..... If Maine/Mass lobstermen get only $4.50 per pound, then the Maine/Mass price will, by default, become the market price for nearly all lobster harvested and sold in the US. Very little Nova Scotia lobster will be sold to a 310 million population market in the US, if the Nova Scotia price is artifically set, well above the US lobster price. That is just a simple function of economics!
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- Abel Belangier
- - January 12, 2012 at 19:08:57
Although I sympathize with Lobster fishermen , I do not feel any worse for them than I do all the other people in the world who have lost jobs and had to take pay cuts to keep their jobs.The world economy is in a downward spiral and I am not sure that Mr Mood or a lot of the fishermen understand all of the factors that have conspired to drop the price of lobsters, there has been a perfect storm of circumstances that have come together over the last few years to decrease the price. It is not just greedy buyers . A buyer can not pay more at the wharf ,then he is going to get for the product. First the high Canadian dollar means the buyer can not pass along the exchange difference .The market is flooded by more lobsters being landed FLA 34 , in Digby , Grand Manan , Maine and almost everywhere else that lobsters are caught , Maine alone is landing 4 million lbs more than they did in 2007. This coupled with a 30% drop in lobster sales at restaurants , as apposed to a 6% drop in other seafoods. Now add to this the fact that most large lobsters were sent from maine to Iceland to be cooked and canned until the "implosion" of the Iceland banks ,A huge market lost .Lower consumption and more lobsters than ever on the market , can only lead to one thing , low price. The price at the wharf in Maine last summer was $3.25 , this summer $2.75 .All of this information is available on the Internet.The problem here is that Lobster fishermen have been used to high prices for a few years ( because $3.50 was not an unusual price 15 years ago), and some have overextend themselves with unnecessarily large and expensive boats , and unrealistic expenses. Lobster fishermen may have to come to the realization that they are going to have to work in the off season ,like most of the population, to maintain there standard of living , or they may have to cut back like so many people have had to in this recession. Maybe fishermen should stop for a minute and feel that they are lucky that they didn't work at Larsens , or the Fundy Gypsume mine , or one of the 2 Poultry plants in the valley that have closed . They do still have an income , They are just starting to feel the economic crunch like a lot of people are. I just hope that the Lobster fishermen do not let someone , who may be trying to create a paycheck for himself , talk them into having no paycheck instead of some paycheck.
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- Cyrille LeBlanc
- - January 12, 2012 at 14:58:01
Crazy enough! Very good article. I enjoyed the quotes which portrays the colourful character of James Mood that I have never spoken to. He seems crazy enough (good crazy) to make the new association work and hopefully, with help, make a difference on the issue of our lobster fishery. After all, the one who said the earth is round was crazy. Right? Caution. The association needs good administrators, financial and record keeping as well as good listeners and negotiators. James Mood, and others like him, can then be let loose on the wharfs of South West Nova Scotia for the difficult task of uniting the fishermen. I'm worried about our area's lost of young families. I hear many are contemplating moving away.
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- Anne Beattie
- - January 12, 2012 at 09:34:59
I am so very proud of the fishermen who attended the meeting. This movement is long overdue and Mr. Mood and those who are working so hard deserve our thanks. It takes a lot of courage to fish and be out on the water, This courage and heart is what will make a difference now. Just like fishing, there will be some rough seas as the association gets going. But, these are Nova Scotia fishermen with a proud tradition behind them. To those who spoke out--right on! To families and businesses who are a part of this--remember they need your support even more now. We are all in this together!
I highly doubt the number of boats that have caught 60 to 100 thousand pounds are countless.. and even if they were, the cost of a lobster outfit has increased 3 to 5 times what they were 10 to 15 years ago. Fuel costs and bait, license fees and other expenses are up as well. So this twice the catch at half the price thing still spells disaster. What about the boats in the 25 to 40 thousand pound range. As far as the meetings go I don't remember them being held at church, nothing "evangelical" about them. Be patient, lets get united first and take it from there. Lets not be too quick to shoot it down, the potential is there to make it work and if it doesn't its because we allowed it to fail. Maybe neither of our sense is very "common" at all.