For many, summer in the Maritimes would not be complete without fresh lobster.
But locals and tourists alike could have to shell out more for the crustaceans as prices reach historic highs.
“Our lobsters are gold-plated now. Prices have been the highest in commercial history,” says Stewart Lamont, managing director of Tangier Lobster Co. Ltd, a live lobster exporter on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore.
When the pandemic hit, export and restaurant industry demand plummeted. The shore price of lobster — the amount fishers get at the wharf from buyers — sunk as low as $4 a pound.
“There was an initial glut of lobsters on the market at the start of the lockdown but then it spun back the other way,” says Colin Sproul, president of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association.
Sales of live and processed lobster rebounded following the first wave of COVID-19.
Prices started to go up with demand and have continued climbing since.
Canadian lobster exports reached a staggering $3.26 billion last year, beating the previous record of $2.59 billion, set in 2019, by more than 25 per cent.
With many consumers saving money during the pandemic and limited travel or restaurant dining, the crustacean long considered a luxury item for special occasions became a top seller in the U.S.
“Americans bought lobster during the pandemic like they never did before and that drove up demand and price,” says Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.
While processed lobster — meat and tails — was in high demand in the U.S., sales of live lobster increased in Asia.
“There is unlimited demand in Asia for Canadian lobster,” Sproul says. “It’s a top quality product and we have a good trade relationship.”
Strong demand, coupled with smaller catches in winter months, sent shore prices spiralling as high as $19.50 a pound.
“The highest wharf price that I’ve ever heard of for lobster in my life was a few weeks ago at $19.50 a pound,” Sproul says.
Prices have since dropped to around $14.50 this week and could ease further during the spring lobster fishery.
The opening of several lobster fishing areas across Atlantic Canada in the coming weeks is expected to boost supply.
Thousands of extra fishing boats will hit the water setting traps. Also, landings _ the catch or total weight of lobsters trapped and sold _ increase in warmer spring weather as well.
The added supply should rein in prices, Lamont says.
“We’re playing with fire when we pay prices that cannot be passed on to the market,” he says of the record lobster prices.
1:59 Ottawa announces boost in budget for fisheries
Ottawa announces boost in budget for fisheries – May 14, 2020
If prices climb again to $20 a pound and stay there, some restaurants and grocery stores may stop selling the crustaceans altogether, Lamont says.
“We have visitors come to Nova Scotia from all over the world to experience our seafood but at the current prices it’s really not accessible,” he says. “We could start to see lobster taken off menus.”
Irvine with the lobster council says strong lobster prices and exports benefit the region’s economy.
Still, he admits it can be pricier for locals to pick up a boiled lobster at Sobeys for supper.
“It is challenging for people in Atlantic Canada if they want to buy lobster because we’re exporting so much at high prices,” Irvine says. “It may be tough for local people here to be able to afford it … but our goal is to maximize the economic value.”
But Lamont says shore prices that approach $20 a pound are unsustainable.
“We have this concept of the poor fisherman from 50 years ago but fishermen today are earning incomes that are extraordinary,” he says.
Tales of lobster fishers drawing half-million-dollar incomes and fishing towns inundated with shiny new trucks abound.
But the reality is fishers are also facing crushingly high inflation _ on top of hefty debt many take on to join the lucrative industry, experts say.
Mounting fuel and labour costs, big loans on boats, licences and other equipment and ongoing maintenance all eat into high shore prices, they say.
“For a lobster boat that holds about 10,000 litres of fuel, you’re looking at a fill up as high as $18,000,” Sproul says.
“Wages are also high because it’s a very demanding job and there’s a component of danger.”
High operating costs are in addition to the upfront cost of joining the fishery, which can hit as much as $5 million once a licence, boat and lobster traps are tallied, he says.
Meanwhile, the cost of bait used in lobster traps is expected to increase after Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced the closure of the Atlantic mackerel and commercial bait fisheries on the East Coast, citing concerns that dwindling stocks have entered a “critical zone.”
“The biggest source of bait has just been eliminated from the industry,” Sproul says. “We’ll have to import bait and it will cost us more.”
Higher bait costs is just one of several factors could affect prices, Irvine says.
Inflation, uncertainty with spiking COVID-19 cases and the potential impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on shipping and demand could all influence lobster prices, he says.
“The big question on everyone’s mind is what’s going to happen when all the seasons open up here in the next month. We expect the market to stay good but there’s a lot of variables.”
1:59 Seized traps returned to Sipekne’katik, which plans to launch ceremonial fishery next week
Seized traps returned to Sipekne’katik, which plans to launch ceremonial fishery next week – May 27, 2021
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2022.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Schools in Mexico will have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or else face heavy fines, officials said Monday.
The rules, published on Sept. 30, target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican schoolkids: sugary fruit drinks sold in triangular cardboard cartons, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chile. School administrators who violate the order will face fines equivalent to between $545 and $5,450, which could double for a second offense, amounting to nearly a year’s wages for some of them.
Mexico’s children have the highest consumption of junk food in Latin America and many get 40% of their total caloric intake from it, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund which labeled child obesity there an emergency.
The new ban targets products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican schoolkids: sugary fruit drinks sold in triangular cardboard cartons, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chile.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday schools would have to offer water fountains and alternative snacks, like bean tacos.
“It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips,” Sheinbaum said. “It is much better to drink hibiscus flower water than soda.”
However, the vast majority of Mexico’s 255,000 schools nationwide do not have free drinking water available to students. According to a report in 2020, the effort to install drinking fountains succeeded in only about 10,900 of the country’s schools, or about 4% of them. Many Schools are located in areas so poor or remote that they struggle to maintain acceptable bathrooms, internet connection or electricity.
Also the most common recipes for beans, refried beans, usually contain a significant dose of lard, which would violate rules against saturated fats.
Mexico instituted front-of-package warning labels for foods between 2010 and 2020, to advise consumers about high levels of salt, added sugar, excess calories and saturated fats. Some snack foods carry all four of the black, octagonal warning labels.
But under the new rules, schools will have to phase out any product containing even a single warning label from school snack stands. It wasn’t immediately clear how the government would enforce the ban on the sidewalks outside schools, where vendors usually set up tables of goods to sell to kids at recess.
Mexican authorities say the country has the worst childhood obesity problem in the world, with about one-third of children overweight or obese.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
