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Swiping spilled Magdalen Islands shellfish not acceptable, wholesaler says
Swiping spilled lobster wrong, says plant owner
The owner of the lobster plant that $500,000 worth of lobster were heading to when a truck overturned near Port Mouton – spilling its entire load into the ditch – says people taking the lobster was unacceptable.
Fisher Direct is a lobster wholesaler based in Shag Harbour. The market-size lobster – which had come from the Magdalen Islands through Prince Edward Island – were headed to the plant to be sold.
Tyler Nickerson manages Fisher Direct and says the lobster free-for-all that took place on the side of the road Saturday
morning – with people picking up crates and crates of live, market lobster, was just wrong.
“It’s no difference than if a truckload of diamonds spilled on the road and people were picking them up,” he says. “Wouldn’t that be theft?”
The truck went off the road after the driver swerved to avoid two deer at about 1 a.m.
“Yeah, they were good to eat, but where does the law apply in some situations?”
He said it also raises a health and safety issue, and he wonders why the load was left unguarded on the side of the road, and no clean-up crew arrived to remove the shellfish.
He said the lobster feast that was enjoyed by many speaks to the ethics of the individuals involved.
“If I would have called the owner and asked him and he said ‘yes, you can have them’, that’s a different thing.”