After a belated May 3, 2024 start, the Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) lobster season is finally underway amid a  price depreciation. The delay owed to gushing seas with strong winds at 20 knots (37 km/hour) in late April and early May. 

The late opening on May 3 coincided with Mothers Day holiday the following weekend, a time when prices normally fall.

By May 4, harvesters were receiving from C$6.50 to C$7 ($4.77-5.14) a pound, lower than spring 2023’s offers.

The weekly price update by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW) shows a weekly price dip of C$1($0.73). Between April 21-27, fishermen received C$9.25 ($6.79) a pound, then C$8.25 ($6.02) before May 4 and finally C$7 ($5.14) by May 11.

Charlie McGeoghegan of the Lobster Fishers of P.E.I. Marketing Board said that current rates were 50% below recent years’ averages. Apparently, lobster cost C$7 ($5.14) in 2006 and harvesters cite costlier living conditions today than then to warrant similar rates.

The fishermen’s price has plummeted from a February 2024 high of C$17.25 ($12.66) a pound when supply was low. Retailers, on their part, could sell fresh lobster for C$26 ($19.08) a pound in February. 

February 2024 was a low season in Canada as only 2500 boats took to the seas for the winter fishing. Harvesters expect the spring season in Canada’s shores to bring in the usual over 7000 boats and raise the stocks.

Stocks will also increase following P.E.I.’s Lennox Island’s new C$22 million ($16.1 million) wharf that can accommodate 25 boats. Indeed, fishermen here had already set over 1000 fishing traps by mid-May 2024, above those of spring 2023. 

This strategic island in northern P.E.I. is home to the Mik’maq native community, members of First Nations of Canada. Its inhabitants have been fishing lobster throughout Canada’s history.

Lennox Island’s communities have also been agitating for more lobster licenses to raise their commercial lobster quotas. 

Further afield, north shore P.E.I’s fisheries at Malpeque Harbour could get a similar makeover as that of Lennox Island.  After a boat sank on May 12 while making back to the harbour, plans are underway to dredge the channel.

The P.E.I. government said it was looking for a solution which could include relocation of the harbour to Keir Shore Road. Another solution is increasing the depth of the current shallow Malpeque channel to accommodate boats with heavy harvests.

Thus, as the P.E.I. lobster season gets underway this spring, supplies are trickling in while prices are retreating.