Lobster waffles

Implement the levy

Late last March, following a two-day meeting in Halifax on the Maritime lobster industry, Nova Scotia Fisheries Minister Keith Colwell was bullish on the idea of a lobster levy.

“There’s a willingness to do this now,” Colwell told The Canadian Press at the time. “There will be some kickback from some individuals that complain about everything, and that’s fine. We’re going to move forward.”

We commended Colwell back then for being both candid and correct — the three Maritime provincial governments, and especially Nova Scotia’s, would experience some resistance, but the Maritime lobster industry has too much potential not to properly market it.

Unfortunately, almost a year later, Colwell appears to be waffling on the lobster levy, which, if implemented, would see fishermen and lobster buyers both paying one cent per pound on catches.

This week, Colwell appeared to second-guess the levy idea after lobster buyers and fishermen from Nova Scotia’s South Shore essentially rejected it during the province’s consultation process.

“We’ve talked to the buyers before in the area,” Colwell told The Canadian Press. “They’re not opposed to paying, but they don’t like the one-cent levy and that’s one reason why we’ve gone out to talk to the industry.”

The minister said he wasn’t wedded to the idea of a levy, adding that the province would consider other fee structures, such as a licence fee.

Colwell added: “We will look into whatever fee structure works.”

The one-cent-per-pound levy concept, first proposed in a 2013 report, is simple, fair and financially reasonable. If implemented, the Lobster Council of Canada would use the money collected — up to an estimated $2.5 million a year — to market Canadian lobster to buyers around the world.

To be sure, the government should heed reasonable suggestions from fishermen and buyers, such as ensuring that the Lobster Council of Canada is transparent in its marketing efforts, and having buyers collect the fishermen’s share of the levy.

Compared to other Maritime regions, lobster catches in southwestern Nova Scotia are relatively high and lucrative. And the buyers and fishermen in that part of the province are often described as “fiercely independent.” It’s as if it’s expected of them.

But there’s a difference between independence and unreasonableness.

The lobster levy concept is widely accepted in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and other parts of Nova Scotia, such as Cape Breton.

“We have always been in support of a levy for a massive independent marketing exercise,” Cheticamp fisherman and Gulf Nova Scotia Fishermen’s Coalition president Leonard LeBlanc told The Cape Breton Post back in the fall of 2013. “If you look at other enterprises such as egg farmers, beef ... all of them spend a massive amount of money to promote their product, but we seem to be doing very little for a $1-billion industry.”

The Nova Scotia government is right to consult with the province’s lobster fishermen on the proposed levy, and consider reasonable suggestions. But one group shouldn’t be allowed to hold a whole industry hostage.