N.S. lobster fishery braces for a downturn as inflation hits
CBC
Canada's most lucrative commercial fishery is bracing for a downturn later this month when the southwestern Nova Scotia lobster fishery opens with lower wharf prices and higher costs.
The fishery is worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year and is an important piece of the Nova Scotia economy.
Fishermen are seeing the downside of a cyclical industry at a time when inflation has sent their input costs skyrocketing.
Geordy Bennett, a lobster boat captain in Riverport on Nova Scotia's south shore, said he just spent $2,900 to fill his boat, Ava Brianne, with diesel at $2.03 per litre.
"And it will probably be more next time," Bennett said.
Interest rates and the cost of bait and traps are also up.
"It's phenomenal. It's doubled and we haven't left the wharf," Bennett said on a blustery day preparing traps for the upcoming season.
"The biggest concern is the price change and fuel cost. If we don't make a profit, it's not worth setting the gear."
Bennett and the hundreds of other fishermen in Lobster Fishing Areas 33 and 34 are watching prices sink as economic worries dampen demand in the U.S.
When the season opens on Nov. 28, the price is expected to be around $6 per pound, down from the $17 fishermen were getting at the peak.
The issue for those who bought in recently is whether the lobster prices will carry the cost of debt.
"I'm beyond concerned," said Chad Parks, a captain in his mid-40s who fishes out of Lunenburg and owns the Nowe or Never.
He borrowed $700,000 three years ago to buy the boat and licence from the captain of the vessel where he was a crew member.
Parks makes an annual $50,000 loan payment to the provincial government's Fisheries and Aquaculture Loan Board.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.