Lobsters from Europe can go for as much as $60 a pound

Lobster fisheries in peril, meeting held in Charlottetown to discuss solutions

  By Mitchell Peters
 
  MLA Charles McGeoghegan remembers seeing lobsters going for $3 a pound at the wharf, then going into a restaurant and seeing the price as high as $20. That has to change if the P.E.I. lobster fishery is going to do this,he said.
  He made the comment at a legislative committee hearing in Charlottetown on March 4 held to discuss ideas to improve the fishery.
One possible solution might be to track how many hands the lobster passes through before it reaches a consumer’s plate, said McGeoghegan.
  Lobster landing prices may go up if fewer people had to handle it from the point of capture until the point it makes it’s way onto a plate, he said.
“If everyone else can ship them live, what is our problem?”
Lobsters from Europe can go for as much as $60 a pound.
There is new technology in the live industry that allows the transportation of live lobsters over farther and farther distances. The key lies in cold-water temperature. If it’s the right temperature, lobsters can be held for months without negative side effects such as losing a shell or females laying eggs, Brown said.
“This should be a no brainer.”
   The reason for the drop in price last year was a 22 per cent increase in lobsters landed by Islanders. That has caused a dramatic decrease in price per pound for the Island’s lobster fishermen, said McGeoghegan Continue