October 12, 2014 — In Atlantic Canada, a few millimeters of lobster shell have some people seeing red.
Fishermen in the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick are at loggerheads over how big a lobster’s carapace must be for a lobster to be harvested. Fishermen in Prince Edward Island are fighting to keep the minimum carapace at 72 millimeters, or about 2.8 inches, while their counterparts in New Brunswick would like to see fishing restricted to lobsters with larger shell sizes—as much as 10 millimeters longer. That is .39 inch.
At stake is tiny Prince Edward Island’s lock on the global market for so-called canner lobsters, younger and smaller lobsters that are prized for their sweeter taste and sought after by major customers, including casinos and cruise ships. The lobster market is worth about 144.2 million Canadian dollars ($130 million) a year to the province, which has a population of just 145,000.
Across the Northumberland Strait in New Brunswick, lobster catchers say tastes have changed and that most customers prefer larger, older lobsters. Those bigger lobsters currently bring in around C$3.75 a pound—or 50 Canadian cents more than canners. Processors in their province also like them larger, in part because bigger tails mean bigger profits.
Paul Lucas, head chef at Lobster on the Wharf, a popular restaurant in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, says that some customers prefer canner lobsters for having a higher “meat to weight” ratio than its bigger brethren. A 1-pound canner lobster usually yields about 4 ounces of lobster meat, while a 2-pound lobster usually gets about 6 ounces. “It’s like eating ribs without the bones,” he said. “You get more bang for your buck.”
Read the full story and watch the video at the Wall Street Journal