There has been a great deal of discussion about a sustainable lobster fishery over the last several years, but Mike McGeoghegan maintains the emphasis must now shift to “sustainable fishermen.”
“The long and the short of it is you can’t have a sustainable fishery with fishermen getting the kind of prices they were this year,” said the president of the PEI Fishermen’s Association. “What happened this year was nothing short of ridiculous.”
Many people taking part in the fall fishery hauled their traps before the mid-October closure as prices reached a low of $2.50 for canners and $2.75 for market lobster. McGeoghegan said at those prices, fishermen were losing money every time they went on the water.
“Five years ago, we were getting over $5 for canners and our expenses have gone up considerably since then,” he said.
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