Boston seafood expo sees P.E.I. lobster fishers optimistic, oyster industry doing damage control

There was a bit more optimism among Prince Edward Island producers at this year’s Seafood Expo North America in Boston — but that depended on which industry they were representing.

The annual event brought seafood harvesters and buyers under one roof from March 15 to 17, and included about 20 Island companies as well as government officials.

At last year's expo, a U.S.-imposed 25 per cent tariff loomed large over the Canadian seafood industry. But that tax has since been lifted, providing a big relief for some.

"We love doing business in the U.S., so for us to have an import tax on that duty, that was not something that we were looking forward to," said James Power, general manager of P.E.I.'s Raspberry Point Oyster Company.

"We would have to add that to our cost to our customers and that may be cost prohibitive to some of our customers here in the U.S., and that is not what we wanted to do."

Charlie McGeoghegan, chair of Lobster P.E.I., the lobster industry's marketing board in the province, said tariffs were "less of a conversation" at the expo this year.

China, the second-largest market for Island lobster after the United States, also dropped its tariff on the Canadian lobster as of March 1.

McGeoghegan said that country and others could lead to some new traffic for P.E.I.'s product.

"It looks positive. There's no inventory in storage, live or processed," he said. 

"From what I'm hearing the last two days, the processed product is mostly cleared out and should be all cleared out by the time we start [fishing] in April."

China is also looking for a new supply of lobsters, McGeoghegan said, because of problems in Vietnam.

"[China] bought a lot of lobster from Vietnam, but in December there was a big hurricane in Vietnam and it wiped out almost all of their farmed lobster hatchery pens," he said.

"That basically eliminated that supply…. So now they're looking back to us to fill that spot again, and we feel our product is far superior, too, when it's wild caught and cold freshwater."

Many conversations Power had at this year's expo revolved around the MSX and dermo diseases that struck the P.E.I. industry in recent years. Neither is harmful to humans, but both can wipe out oyster populations.