After a couple of years with slow trade because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the international lobster trade is now picking up again. Canada’s dominance of the trade is becoming even stronger. The country accounted for almost 58 percent of world exports during the first quarter of 2023. However, supplies might be a problem. Adverse weather conditions and restrictions on lobster gear might reduce catches.

Supplies

Aquaculture may be one way to improve supplies, and Nueva Pescanova is starting operations of its first octopus farm on Gran Canaria island in Spain this spring, but protesters are lining up to try and stop it. According to the protesters, there are environmental risks, but there is also risk of making the animals suffer. And they are even warning against “the murder” of octopus, which are claimed to be highly intelligent animals. Swedish animal protection organization Djurens Rätt (“Animal Rights”) is calling on the EU Commission to ban octopus farming in the European Union “to stop the great sufferings”.  

The battle over the Maine lobster fishery and the protection of the North Atlantic right whales has been going on for years. In June, the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favour of the Maine lobster fishermen and expressed that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had gone too far in its analysis of the lobster industry’s potential harm to the right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), which is considered to be critically endangered. A number of measures to protect the right whale have been imposed on the fishermen, especially to avoid the whales getting entangled in the ropes to the traps. But NMFS has pronounced that, while ropeless fishing technologies, weak links, inserts and trawls have been used, none of these seem to work properly, and that the only solution would be a permanent closure of the fishery. However, the court found that this would result in great physical and human capital destruction and thousands of jobs lost.

While hurricane Fiona caused major damage to the equipment for the lobster harvesters in the Caribbean region, the lobster population itself was not much affected. Although buildings were blown away and traps were lost, the lobsters in the sea seemed to be relatively safe from the destructive weather.

Canada’s lobster fishing area (LFA) 26, which includes the south coast of Prince Edward Island, opened its season earlier than normal in an effort to finish earlier and thereby not take lobsters while they were in the middle of reproducing and molting.

The lobster season in Canada’s lobster fishing area 23 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ended on 30 June, but the result was one of the worst in recent years. A combination of cold weather, storms, seals, and zone closures due to sightings of the endangered right whale all contributed to lower landings. Bad weather kept lobstermen in port for days, and the colder waters made lobsters go to deeper water further offshore.

The spiny lobster season in the Bahamas ended on 31 March, but with a miserable result. Catches were good but ex-vessel prices were down by 50 percent compared to 2022. Last year, ex-vessel prices averaged about USD 20 per pound, but in 2023 prices had dropped to about USD 10 per pound.

The Florida spiny lobster season, which started in the beginning of August 2022, closed at the end of March 2023. In spite of problems caused by the hurricane, which scattered lobster traps and caused equipment losses, the season was a good one. Florida lobster harvesters landed 5.4 million pounds (2 450 tonnes) of spiny lobster (Panulirus argus), which was about 2 percent more than in the previous season. But prices were lower, so the value of this catch amounted to USD 42.1 million, or 12 percent less compared to last season. The average landing price was USD 7.80 per pound, compared to USD 8.84 in the 2021-2022 season.