PORTLAND, Maine — August 12, 2012 — Lobstermen and fishery officials in Maine are hoping that cool heads prevail as the fishing season begins in Canada for lobstermen who blocked truckloads of Maine-caught lobster from New Brunswick processing plants before settling their dispute over the weekend.
Fishermen who pull traps off southeastern New Brunswick are scheduled to start their two-month season Monday. Blaming the flood of Maine lobster for driving down prices, many of those same fishermen staged protests this month outside several New Brunswick processors, which forced plant shutdowns.
Processing operations resumed Friday a day after a judge issued an order restricting the protests, and Maine lobster dealers have resumed shipments to Canada. Over the weekend, the union representing lobstermen, the provincial government and fish processing plants agreed to a deal that calls for processors to pay an additional 25 Canadian cents per lobster, to be matched by the union, according to a union official.
Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher doesn’t expect trouble when fishing season gets under way Monday morning.
“Those fishermen up there are just like the fishermen down here — when it’s time to fish, they’ll go fishing,” he said.
Lobster dealers and fishermen in Maine are relieved now that processors in Canada are again taking their lobster, which is processed into a variety of frozen and meat products. It’s estimated that 50 percent or more of Maine’s annual harvest, which topped 100 million pounds last year, is shipped to Canada.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News.