Value of P.E.I.'s lobster exports falls for 2nd straight year
CBC
P.E.I. lobster exports were down again in 2023, but the Lobster Council of Canada is expecting a rebound.
Executive director Geoff Irvine said markets are still settling after a bust during the pandemic and a following boom.
"It's a lot of different factors. There was significant holdover inventory of some frozen products," said Irvine.
"Year-to-year we see these fluctuations in live and frozen products, and it's sometimes hard to explain it."
The total value of P.E.I.'s lobster exports in 2023 was $265 million, down from $310 million in 2022, according to Industry Canada statistics.
In 2020, P.E.I.'s lobster exports did not see the same kind of decline that the Canadian industry experienced as a whole. Nationally, exports were down 19 per cent while P.E.I.'s dropped only slightly. But the Island's industry benefited enormously from the 2021 rebound, when sales jumped by 78 per cent.
That was a high from which there was a long way to fall. Despite double-digit decreases in the last two years, exports in 2023 were still 11 per cent higher than they were in 2019.
European markets in particular have been soft, said Irvine.
"I think much of the downturn last year was due to the really heavy buying through the pandemic rebound year," he said.
"I think we'll get back to a more normal, whatever normal is, but a much more normal pattern in 2024."
The phasing out of tariffs on lobster meat exported to the European Union should also help, he added.
Europe will be a focus of marketing campaigns this year, said Irvine, but it remains uncertain where that money will come from.
Last year, about $200,000 of the group's marketing spending came from the Canadian Fish and Seafood Opportunities Fund.
That fund expires this month and Irvine said the council is still in talks with the federal and provincial governments on marketing money for this year.
A day after officials first asked Calgarians to reduce their water use in the wake of Tuesday’s catastrophic water main break, the city says it is not seeing any real reduction in usage.
City of Calgary officials are set to give a technical briefing about a major water main break that caused flooding and prompted a boil water advisory for parts of Calgary.
Recent satellite images suggest Tasiujaq, Que., could have higher tides than the Bay of Fundy, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says it has no immediate plans to make a true comparison between the two sites.
A woman is dead after a collision on Highway 401 near Dixie Road in Mississauga, according to paramedics.
It’s been 200 years since London, Ont., was first legally founded as a small village at the Forks of the Thames River, and according to city hall and a number of local historians, heritage advocates and organizations, it’s an anniversary that’s well worth celebrating in a big way.
A man is facing more than a dozen charges including sexual assault and forcible confinement after Toronto police say three people were attacked on New Year's Eve and there may be more victims.
It's hard to go a day in Calgary without seeing magpies or hearing their iconic screech.
When Joanne Cole’s Western Bay art studio burned down in August, she lost 30 years of work.
The past year included a Canadian election, an Ontario election and countless stories about Canada’s relationship with the U.S. in the wake of the Trump administration.
Here’s a list of what will be open and closed in the Halifax area on Jan. 1:
Misty Schofield, a Saint John social worker, was sitting in her warm home on Christmas Day when she started to think about her clients.
Romaine LeGallou heard the Supreme Court of Canada was turning 150 and needed a wardrobe update. And after that, everything seemed to happen so quickly.
As we enter a new year, politicians at every level of government are promising to make your lives more affordable.