OT: Where Our Food Comes From

CTMike

A friend was born here in PEI, and has a brother-in-law who is a lobsterman. I had the opportunity to go out with Captain Ian and his crew this morning to see what is involved in the process. Turns out licenses are extremely limited, and go for ~ C$3M if you’re looking to buy one. 

I did ask for a pair of gloves and to be put to work, but was politely told to stay out of the way and watch. They have a job to do and didn’t want me slowing them down. 

 

Ian fishes around 272 traps in strings of 8 traps each, from 0400 - 1200 six days/week. When I asked why they start so early he said that in the past, fishermen would fish those hours, and then go home and work the farm for another 8 hours, and it has just become what they do. 

At the end of the day, Ian sent me off with 6 lobsters that were caught today, and absolutely refused to accept any payment despite my protests. 

RRP

Dumb question here: where or who along the way makes all the money we have to pay for lobster tails? Surely the lobster fishermen/boat owners are NOT the guys getting rich! 

CTMike

RRP said:

Dumb question here: where or who along the way makes all the money we have to pay for lobster tails? Surely the lobster fishermen/boat owners are NOT the guys getting rich! 

Capt. Ian told me that he is currently getting C$7.25/lb. 

lousubcap

Thanks for sharing that unique experience.  Labour (nod) intensive right there. 

You've got to catch a whole lot of lobsters to clear that fee, never mind the upkeep, fuel, slip fee, insurance and crew pay and more I am sure I'm missing.  Over 400,000 lbs to just clear the fee.  The average weight of a lobster is 1.5-2 lbs.

SGH

RRP said:

Dumb question here: where or who along the way makes all the money we have to pay for lobster tails? Surely the lobster fishermen/boat owners are NOT the guys getting rich! 

On the gulf coast it’s the fish houses that make all the money. They pay the shrimpers a dollar and change per pound for their catch. And then sell it for up to ten times what they paid for it. They can do this because they have multimillion dollar refrigeration and storage facilities. No one else does. 

On a separate note Ron, you should be able to relate to that “multimillion” comment above

CTMike

lousubcap said:

Thanks for sharing that unique experience.  Labour (nod) intensive right there. 

You've got to catch a whole lot of lobsters to clear that fee, never mind the upkeep, fuel, slip fee, insurance and crew pay and more I am sure I'm missing.  Over 400,000 lbs to just clear the fee.  The average weight of a lobster is 1.5-2 lbs.

The season on the southern end of island is 50 - 60 days long depending on the biomass estimates from the fisheries dept. He told me that he spends about $45K on bait, and a similar amount on fuel. 

His license was handed down from his father, that isn’t an annual fee, sorry for the confusion.  The C$3M is what he could sell his license for if he were to retire.

RRP

SGH said:

RRP said:

Dumb question here: where or who along the way makes all the money we have to pay for lobster tails? Surely the lobster fishermen/boat owners are NOT the guys getting rich! 

On the gulf coast it’s the fish houses that make all the money. They pay the shrimpers a dollar and change per pound for their catch. And then sell it for up to ten times what they paid for it. They can do this because they have multimillion dollar refrigeration and storage facilities. No one else does. 

On a separate note Ron, you should be able to relate to that “multimillion” comment above

Har har har Scottie! Some years back we used to vacation on Jekyll Island and after spending the day on the beach and often seeing the shrimp boats out in the distance we would meet them at the dock and purchase their freshly caught and cooked shrimp for like $3 a pound. We would pig out many nights on such a simple FRESH delicacy which us landlubbers enjoyed! And when we would leave to return to IL I would buy and ice down several pounds! 

Then one summer upon returning to Jekyll we discovered the boats could no longer stop there again! The state of GA had passed some ridiculous laws preventing shrimp boat owners from selling directly to the public like that anymore. Thereafter when we would shop in Brunswick the price at Kroger was $8 a pound! 

Botch

RRP said:
The state of GA had passed some ridiculous laws preventing shrimp boat owners from selling directly to the public like that anymore. Thereafter when we would shop in Brunswick the price at Kroger was $8 a pound! 

Somebody got a campaign donation.  Story of our country  well, history, in a nutshell.  

RRP

Botch said:

RRP said:
The state of GA had passed some ridiculous laws preventing shrimp boat owners from selling directly to the public like that anymore. Thereafter when we would shop in Brunswick the price at Kroger was $8 a pound! 

Somebody got a campaign donation.  Story of our country  well, history, in a nutshell.  

I FIRMLY believe that! sorry that this country’s government has gotten so corrupt! Honestly I do not believe it always has been ANYTHING like it is now from top to the near bottom. I mean from the White House and CERTAINLY at the ILLINOIS state level which has ALWAYS been horribly corrupt! Pay to Play!

PoppasGrill

Used to be able to do that with most of the commercial fishing boats here in Fl, they set aside a bit to sell direct, over what they “needed” for the agreement with whoever they contracted with. We would get good deals on Tuna and grouper, and occasionally Mahi. After a while there were people waiting in line, then the entitled ones would raise hell if they showed up late to the docks and couldn’t get anything.
next we knew the city council wouldn’t let them sell direct since it could be not be accurately taxed.

CTMike

So I ended up trading two of the lobsters to a neighbor in the campground from Newfoundland. I told him I didn’t need anything in return as my wife doesn’t eat lobster and I didn’t want any to go to waste. 

He was adamant and gave me a jar of Newfoundland Bottled Moose meat and a jar of homemade split pea soup. 

Currently in Ottawa visiting the kid and his tribe, so we decided to make poutine. 

It is surprisingly tasty.