The lobster fishery in the Strait of Northumberland, between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, continues to be in trouble. That’s been the case for some time.

Now there’s an added negative factor: low prices and high costs.

Ed Frenette, executive director of the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA), says that catches this season have been about the level of last season, but “prices are way down and operating costs are way up.”

He adds, “The prices are lower than last spring — 50 cents lower for both canners and market lobsters, in fact. The increase in operating costs s due, obviously, to higher fuel prices and the fact that there are hardly any herring. And flounder is 85 cents a pound.”

Buyers were reportedly offering $4.50 a pound for canners, and $5.50 for market-size lobster.

When Frenette says that catches are about the same as last spring, he’s talking about a grim situation then. At the time he called the situation a “serious decline” and added, “fishermen there are going out every other day, and some say they’re getting maybe two lobsters. I’m hearing others saying that they’re going to pull their traps, haul out their boats, and head west for Alberta to find work.”

Frenette said that a “fishery summit” brought together federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn, Atlantic Canada provincial fisheries ministers, along with their deputies and staffs, as well as representatives from Maritime fishermen’s organizations.

Out of this summit came three working groups who are responsible for examining a cross-section of the fishery: economic impact, harvesting and management. An interim report was scheduled to be completed in late October and a final report “late in the winter of ’07,” according to Frenette.

Among the solutions discussed, he says, were buyouts, debt mediation and a program where each province would cover the cost of a fisherman’s financial adviser. “We hope that, over the winter, this will lead to low- or no-interest loans from the provincial governments,” Frenette added.