N.S. lobster fishermen focusing on big catches, tariffs ahead of dumping day

Lobster fishermen are getting ready for winter in Nova Scotia.

Lobster boats across southwest Nova Scotia will hit the waters Monday for dumping day, the official start of the season for Lobster Fishing Areas 33 and 34, the longest and most lucrative lobster fishery in the country.

Fifth-generation lobster fisherman Logan Henneberry is excited as he heads out with a new lobster boat and crew.

“It’s the same fishery, but it’ll be a different style this year,” he said. “And sure, there’s some nerves and some stress along the way.”

By the time the season wraps up in May, roughly 50 million pounds of live lobster will come ashore. It’s a massive haul and a major economic driver for Nova Scotia, especially in rural coastal communities.

Global politics and tariffs are shaping the season before it even begins, but Henneberry says he’s trying not to get caught up in issues that are out of his control.

“My biggest thing is just fishing hard, fishing every day,” said Henneberry. “Some of those things you can’t control. It is what it is.”

The Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance says this season looks significantly different from last year. Twelve months ago, tariffs were barely part of the conversation; now they’re reshaping the global market.

The United States has been threatening tariffs, while China has already imposed a 25 per cent tax on Canadian seafood exports, which is having a major impact on the seafood sector.

“We saw a drop of about 50 per cent overall in our live exports to China,” said Kris Vascotto, executive director of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance. “Looking just at June, July and August, we were off by 70 per cent year over year.”

Nearly 80 per cent of Nova Scotia’s live lobster exports go to the U.S. and China.

If tariffs continue to complicate access to those markets, Vascotto says it could drive prices down.

“If we’re trying to get the product into those markets, we’re going to have to slack off on the price a little bit,” he said.

Vascotto says catches in Area 34 have been gradually dropping since 2016. Although the lobster population is still healthy, a decline in catches could help support better prices, based on principles of supply and demand.

For Henneberry, lobsters remain his focus.

“Every fisherman wants the best price for lobster but that’s another thing we can’t control,” he said.

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