Lobster boats leave Port Medway Harbour early Tuesday morning on Dumping Day. (Rick Conrad)
More than 1,400 fishing boats left wharves early this morning along the South Shore as lobster season got underway in southwestern Nova Scotia.
Known as Dumping Day, it’s the day that fishermen set their traps in some of North America’s most lucrative lobster grounds. Nova Scotia exported more than $1.3 billion of lobster last year.
Dumping Day was delayed by a day this year because of weather.
Catches were down overall last year, but still accounted for about $318 million.
Some 680 vessels from Queens County motored out at 7 a.m.
Dozens of family and community members were at the wharf in Port Medway to wish fishermen a safe season, which wraps up at the end of May.
Here are some of the people and sounds from the morning.
Lobster traps on the wharf in Port Medway. Fishermen head out to start their season on Tuesday morning. (Rick Conrad)
Queens County fishermen will be heading out to set their traps on Tuesday morning at 7.
Known as Dumping Day, the first day of lobster season on the South Shore is usually the last Monday in November. But weather delayed the opening this year to Tuesday.
Lobster fishing area 33 covers ports from Cow Bay to Shelburne, while LFA 34 takes in the rest of southwestern Nova Scotia and Digby county.
Fishermen in LFA 34 will head out at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
About 680 vessels fish out of LFA 33, according to the Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association.
The first day can be a long one. While LFA 33 crews can set their traps beginning at 7 a.m., they can’t start hauling them in until midnight. Some boats come back to port, but others decide to stay on the water for a few days.
Lobster is Nova Scotia’s biggest seafood export, with $1.3 billion shipped out of the province in 2023.
According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, overall catches in LFAs 33 and 34 were down last year, but still combined for a value of almost $318 million.
Fishermen in West Berlin get their traps ready for Dumping Day. (Rick Conrad)
Fishermen around the South Shore are getting ready for the start of lobster season.
Depending on the weather, Dumping Day will start for Queens County fishermen at 7 a.m. Monday, when vessels race to get to some of the most lucrative fishing grounds in North America to set their traps.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans makes the call on Friday morning based on the forecast.
Dumping Day can be moved up or delayed by a day if the forecast predicts anything over 26 knots of wind.
Fishing boat captains can also vote to go a day early or a day later, if they feel conditions are too dangerous.
Bruce Perry fishes out of Port Medway. He was getting his boat ready this week and waiting for the official call to get out on the water. He said he’s looking forward to a good start to the season.
“Just hope there’s a few lobsters everywhere and a good price and some good weather,” he said this week.
The season in lobster fishing areas 33 and 34 goes from the last Monday in November to May 31. LFA 33 includes Queens County and covers the area from Cow Bay to Shelburne. Some 680 vessels fish out of the area.
Dan Fleck, the executive director of Brazil Rock 33/34 Lobster Association, said DFO changed the procedure for the Dumping Day start.
In previous years, boats were allowed to untie and wait in the harbour until the opening bell. This year, though, in an effort to make it fairer for all fishermen, DFO has ordered all vessels to stay tied up at the dock.
“And that could be very dangerous in some harbours,” Fleck said in an interview. “We have some ports with five, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 80 boats. It could be tricky, in hours of darkness and vessels loaded and you can’t see.
“It’s an anxious time, everybody wants to get to sea, they want to get to their prime fishing grounds. To have everybody try to untie at the same time, jockeying for position and get out of these wharves, it could be dangerous.”
The first day is a long one. LFA 33 crews can set their traps beginning at 7 a.m., but they can’t start hauling them in until midnight.
“So we have some vessels that will stay out until midnight to start hauling, and some vessels will stay for three or four days,” Fleck says.
Overall catches were down last year, according to DFO. In LFA 33, crews landed 6,881 metric tonnes during the 2023-24 season for a value of $163 million. The year before, 7,692 metric tonnes were landed, valued at $154.8 million.
Fleck says it’s difficult to predict what this season will bring. Fishermen in other areas like LFA 35 in the Bay of Fundy are reporting good catches and getting about $11 a pound, he said.
“Safety’s the most important, make sure everybody gets out there safe and sound, and gets back home the same way.”
Ronnie Conrad on the West Berlin Wharf on Friday, on the last day of lobster fishing season. (Rick Conrad)
Friday was the last day of lobster fishing season on Nova Scotia’s South Shore.
And fishermen at wharves in Queens County say it was a good one.
Ronnie Conrad of West Berlin has been fishing for 44 years. He said conditions on the water were rougher than last year, with more wind, but catches were up.
“(It’s) been a real good season. It started off good, but it didn’t sound like it was going to be a real good season all over, but I call it a real good season.
“We were up probably stock-wise another 25, 30 per cent.”
Almost 1,700 licensed vessels fish along Nova Scotia’s southwestern shore, from Cow Bay near Halifax, around the southwestern end of the province to the Bay of Fundy.
The season opened in lobster fishing area 33 on Nov. 26. That’s the area from Cow Bay to Shelburne. And it began a couple of days later in LFA 34, which takes in the rest of southwestern Nova Scotia to Digby County.
Conrad said he thinks most fishermen in both districts did well.
“Overall, I think everybody came out pretty good. Southwest, District 34, was down all fall and all winter, but they had a real good spring. So that was a plus for them.”
He said he usually fishes about 25 kilometres off shore in the winter time, leaving at 3 in the morning and getting back about 12 hours later. And for the first few days of the season, if catches are good, he and his crew will be out for up to 20 hours, hauling as many as 500 traps total, double what they would do on a normal day.
This year, though, he decided to stick closer to the coast.
“Normally, I go out there probably about 16, 17 miles in the wintertime. But this year, I didn’t venture out that far because there weren’t any lobsters offshore.
“It got cold quick. It started off colder than last year too. It keeps the catch down. Lobster won’t crawl in cold water. This spring it warmed up quick and we had an excellent spring. Everywhere along the coast we had a real good spring.”
Lobster fisherman Mike Mattatall unloaded his last catch of the season at the wharf in Port Medway on Friday. (Rick Conrad)
38-year-old Mike Mattatall from Sable River has been fishing most of his life. For the past three years, he’s had his own boat out of Port Medway.
“Every season is so different. Last year was probably a little more in catch, but the average price through the winter helped sell some more lobsters through (last) winter because the water was warmer. Colder water made the winter pretty slow this year.”
Mattatall said prices started out around $9 a pound this season, went up as high as $20 in the winter when the catch was scarce and settled around $7 a pound this spring.
Just because the season’s over, though, it doesn’t mean the work stops. Fishermen will spend the summer and fall fixing up their boats, building new traps and spending some time with their families.
But you won’t hear people like Mattatall and Conrad complain.
“It’s a lifestyle, though. I don’t really know what it is, comparable to other kind of work. You’d probably have to come do it and tell me how much different it is than your job. It depends on who you are. We don’t find it hard. We like it.”
Conrad says he’s not going to retire yet.
“My wife wants me to be done now, but the money’s just too good yet, so I’m gonna hang in for another year or two anyway.”
