Background
Southwest Nova Scotia generally produces high
quality lobster. During the 2003/2004 season, variations in lobster
quality (soft-shells and low yield) created an economic challenge. Understanding
the factors that control the variation of lobster quality is vital
to the sustainability and health of the lobster industry. In order to
understand the variation in lobster quality, continuous and annual sampling
is required.
Since the summer of 2004, lobster harvesters, buyers, dealers,
processors, and scientists are all participating in developing this
collaborative research program designed to better document and understand
the annual changes in moult-timing and lobster quality in LFAs 33 and 34.
Sampling started in June 2008 in LFAs 25 and 26A, and in LFA 24 in August 2009. This site contains a summary of all data collected.