Navigating waters of lobster industry
Ian MacPherson of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association sat down with The Guardian this week for a question and answer session about markets for P.E.I. lobster.
Ian MacPherson, executive director of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association, admits he has no commercial fishing background. But he is still an important voice advocating for the association’s membership with the help of 1,300 experts at his disposal. Originally from Toronto, MacPherson joined the organization in 2010 after working in the transportation industry in Alberta and New Brunswick.
According to Statistics Canada, the industry contributed about $73 million in 2016 to the Island’s GDP. To date, there is an estimated 1280 fishing licences held on the Island valued at $800,000 to $1 million per license, explained MacPherson.
He says it is an exciting time to be in the industry with markets opening up in Asia and new technology for fishing boats on the way. Another positive is the 150 new captains added in the past five years, said MacPherson.
But there are challenges facing the industry, such as falling lobster prices (to $4 a pound for canners and $4.50 for market lobster) and carapace size increases. Other less known challenges facing the industry include oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and marine protected areas that could lead to no-fish zones.
MacPherson sat down with The Guardian this week to discuss the fishing industry on P.E.I. in terms of what is working and what isn’t.
Q The fall lobster season ended this week. What is your assessment of how it went?
This is anecdotal but it appears that catches may have been good. There were some challenges in terms of some price fluctuations, quite a bit lower than last year. We’re working on those issues. But early indications are that it’s been a good for P.E.I. for both (spring and fall) seasons. Some buyers do have a rebate later after they tidy up their books. We’re not always privy to that. It could be a number of months away.
Q So, what are the issues with the fall prices of lobster?
We do meet with the buyers and processors before the spring season. I think as an industry we’re all trying to work toward taking out the big swings in price. Obviously, there are factors involved that we cannot control – world economies and currency rates and exchange rates and things like that. A positive is this organization has been extremely involved in marketing and promotion of P.E.I. lobster. And, we’re the first province in Atlantic Canada to adopt a levy. We think it’s important to invest back in your industry. We have a number of initiatives, not just on P.E.I. but some off Island as well. So, I think that’s it. It’s not perfect. Not everything is going full tilt yet. We’re hoping that we can take out some of that high-low-low cycle and have it at a sustainable level.
Q What are some of the challenges facing the industry?
One of the biggest challenges in the last few years is that several services that were provided by DFO (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and they’ve been privatized. You know, we distribute trap tags, we do licensing transfers and paperwork and licensing conditions for a number of people. These are all things that, typically, an association didn’t do, say 10 years ago. Like everything, there’s changes that are sometimes good and sometimes create challenges.
Q One of the issues you’ve recently raised is concerns over the proposed federal business tax changes and how they would affect the fishing industry. Can you explain the concerns?
I think this was a concern of the agricultural community as well is that, depending on your situation and how your company was set up, you have a scenario where selling to a son or daughter or other family member was quite punitive versus to selling to someone off the street. We have faith that is being reviewed at this time and we did put in a submission to express our concerns. One of the concerns is that also narrows your pool of potential buyers for your fleet. For a lot of our members, that’s their retirement package. And, they’d like to get fair market value for their fleet.
Q What is working well in the industry?
It’s a fluid environment for sure. Sometimes we think we’ve got one part settled down and then something else will rise. But, generally, I think everything we’re trying to do focuses on sustainability of the resource and financial viability of our members. And, so, there’s no silver bullet. In some cases, we’ve bought out retired licences. In other cases, it’s working with DFO to update some regulations that might be restrictive and maybe in some way impact the efficiency of a fishery or fleet. The marketing and promotion aspect is really important, and you see it in other industries. Representatives of the organization have gone on trade missions and, although they’re not there to sell the product off their boat directly, they are there to sell the P.E.I. story.