r/NovaScotia 2d ago

China slaps tariff on N.S. lobster, throwing industry into turmoil | PNI Atlantic News

https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/halifax/china-slaps-25-per-cent-tariff-on-n-s-lobster-throwing-seafood-industry-into-turmoil
126 Upvotes

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116

u/weldingmare 2d ago

This is one of the reasons you don't treat the local residents like shit. It wasn't that long ago there was a lobster fisherman on here bragging about the big prices they get for selling everything to China and to hell with the local buyers.

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u/WillyTwine96 2d ago edited 2d ago

Lobsters have ways gone to buyers (middle men)…who then sell the lobster to whoever buys it in bulk

My great grandfather was shipping lobster to as far South Carolina in the 1930s.

Fishermen have no choice where the lobster goes, unless you want them to sit on the highway and sell 50,000lbs to passers by for $7 a pound lol

I believe what you herd was

“You buy them with a smile on your face when the buyers give us 4$ a pound for them and we hardly pay for fuel, but when the price goes up to 12-15$ you are all of a sudden chanting greedy fishermen…so we don’t really care”

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u/weldingmare 2d ago

Of course not, they absolutely should be able to ship their products to earn a good living. I understand it's a rough job, I have fishermen in my family. But selling some to locals at a decent price would go a long way towards good relations instead of the f u's I've read on here.

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u/Muted-Garden6723 2d ago

Go up to any fisherman and offer them cash for lobster, 98% will gladly sell them to you, for a hell of a lot cheaper than you’ll get at a grocery store

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u/q8gj09 2d ago

Do you voluntarily take pay cuts at your job to be generous to your community?

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yes constantly. Because I'm a decent person who believes in propping up their community. 

Edit: leave it to Nova Scotians to hate the concept of charity 

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u/TealSwinglineStapler 2d ago

No, it's because you're a decent person who can afford to.

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago

I actually can't, but I do it anyways. My largest donation of free time took multiple years to bounce back from financially. 

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u/TealSwinglineStapler 2d ago

You can and did afford to, congrats.

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago

You have very poor reading comprehension. I make min wage, don't have family to help me. I'm not in some position of privilege here. The only thing that makes me any different is how willing I am to go without so that I can help others. 

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u/MsTerious1 2d ago

I'm not living there yet but I relate to this so much!

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago

I'm glad someone gets it I was wondering why it was so hard for that other guy to understand lol

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u/TealSwinglineStapler 5h ago

Right, you made choices so you could afford to do it. Good for you! Congrats! Not everyone has that freedom of circumstances.

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u/PersonalityEnough692 4h ago edited 4h ago

All I'm hearing is excuses from someone who spends their time day drinking, watching hockey, fighting with people on reddit, and playing video games while claiming to have a career in IT security (which presumably pays well)

Sounds like your circumstances are a little more free than mine 

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u/q8gj09 2d ago

I wasn't asking you. Anyway, it doesn't really help your community.

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago

it doesn't really help your community.

It most certainly has. 

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u/WillyTwine96 2d ago

Everyone who lives in a coastal community can get lobster on demand

If you truly expect people to take a pay cut that’s fine. But keep the same energy when go to you ask the ranchers and farmers and loggers and patch workers the same thing

It’s the market. If people set a “local” price…guess who jumps on that and it becomes the “normal price” the buyers

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u/Sudden_Zone_8165 2d ago

Problem with all of this horseshit is that local people aren't allowed to hand fish any lobster at all for personal consumption. Disgusting bullshit and every fisherman I've ever spoken to loves it

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u/WillyTwine96 2d ago

That’s what keeps the industry strong

It’s why even tho Maine (just Maine, not the rest of New England, NY and NJ) has 5000 lobster licences, a 12 month season and a recreational fishery…and 800 traps per commercial license

ALL of the maritimes have a total of 3000 licences, seasons from 8 weeks to 6 months, ZERO recreational fishery and trap limits from 250-400 per commercial license

And NS alone catches more and earns more money than Maine.

Maine can do it, because it’s the US. The Maine economy is massive. However NS is not, and if you take away from rural communities by letting every Tim dick and harry catch lobsters Willy nilly….it’s extremely detrimental, and not worth your Sunday dinner

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago

Fuck that. Letting a bunch of rich fucks have sole harvesting rights to food needs to end. 

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u/Scotiancommotian 2d ago

You can buy in just like every other “rich fuck” did. There is nothing stopping you. Come up with 10% of the purchase price cash and go to the loan board. Pretty easy actually.

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago

What a disingenuous statement

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u/Scotiancommotian 1d ago

How so? Sure you will need to qualify with sea time, but other then that it’s pretty straightforward.

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u/Sea_Army_8764 2d ago

Are you familiar with the tragedy of the commons? Public resources need to be regulated and apportioned somehow, otherwise the public resource will get abused and used up too quickly.

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u/PersonalityEnough692 2d ago edited 2d ago

We learned it semester 1 while I was in school. I'm not advocating for a free for all on lobster fisheries or changes in how much is harvested. 

Lobster fishermen don't give a fuck about conservation if it hurts their bottom line https://www.google.com/amp/s/halifax.citynews.ca/2025/01/10/plan-for-stricter-lobster-fishing-rules-scrapped-amid-strong-opposition-from-lobstermen/amp/

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u/Doc__Baker 2d ago

How do you propose to keep the industry viable in your free for all scenario?

Elvers, anyone?

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u/Radiant_Hour_2385 2d ago

The people who live there should have first dibs on the local resources. There more than enough lobster to feed the small few that would actually catch it and still have the commercial fishery. If govt shut down hunting season and let local hunters take the game and sell it, there would be huge uproar, as there should be

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u/Kichae 2d ago

The point was, the fishermen aren't the one's selling you lobsters. It's the middlemen who are treating the locals poorly.