Workshop presenters (left to right): Melanie Burton, David MacEwen, Geoff Irvine, Dr. Andrea Battison, Stewart Lamont, Dr. Roger Uglow, Fraser Clark, John Garland and Robert Verge

Dr. Jean Lavallée opened up the sessions by giving a brief overview and update on the AVC Lobster Science Centre’s current and future activities. Dr. Uglow discussed the importance of live crustacean transport to the industry using examples from the U.K. crab and lobster industry. He explained how transportation ultimately affects the quality of the product when it arrives at its destination based on biological changes taking place during transport, namely changes in ammonia levels in the blood and water.

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Other presenters included representatives from the AVC Lobster Science Centre; Fraser Clark discussed the use of genetics in understanding changes at the lobsters molecular level during live holding and shipping.  Dr. Andrea Battison described what blood biochemistry panels can tell us about the nutritional status of the lobster by comparing blood parameters and tomalley fat content of lobsters at different stages of their moult cycle. Melanie Burton presented information on an alternative to air shipment of lobsters overseas; ocean freight while lobsters are immersed in water using the Aqualife Live Transport System. John Garland, senior biologist with Clearwater Seafood Limited Partnership, explained the lobsters’ ability to survive out of water for long periods allowing shipment overseas in air, and how industry practices prior to being packed for long-term shipment can negatively impact the quality of the product arriving in their destination. Stewart Lamont joined us from Tangier Lobster Company to cover the exporter’s perspective on quality from the trap to the plant. He focused on the methods of success; defined as continuous sales, contented clients worldwide and reasonable return on investment, and how to achieve this success through each piece of the “quality puzzle”: environmental, biological, handling practices, transport from shore, plant receiving, plant benchmarks and en route to the market.

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As quality was the theme of the workshop it was important to include experiences with other fisheries surrounding quality standards. Robert Verge from the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation covered this topic by pointing out in his presentation that Gardner Pinfold identified marketability of lobsters and lack of quality standards as key issues in the lobster industry in their 2010 report. He also described the challenges inboth developing quality standards and putting them to use. Geoff Irvine represented the Lobster Council of Canada and followed Robert’s presentation with more detailed information regarding the “Long term Value Strategy for Canadian Lobster” released by Gardner Pinfold in their report. Geoff talked about implementing a quality standard and how that will help the industry by providing the market with: a) consistent range of choice, b) greater predictability and c) a basis for higher prices. Our last presenter of the day was Dave MacEwen from the Prince Edward Island Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Rural Development (PEI FARD). Dave discussed a wide range of programs provided by PEI FARD to help improve lobster quality throughout the chain of custody from larval collectors and equipment technology to ghost fishing, the future fisher program and new market development. The Province’s involvement is extremely important to the industry and they continue to develop new programs to assist the industry on improvements. The Future Fisher Program is notable for this workshop as harvester attendance more than doubled from previous years due to their involvement in this program.

The “Lobster World” is an exciting one to be working in and we will continue to meet and bring experts from each field together in forums such as this to ensure the industry moves forward together on best practices to assure lobster health throughout the chain-of-custody. This theme has progressively grown over the previous years due to a number of factors affecting the industry: financial changes, record low prices and the need to improve these conditions for everyone involved. Lobster quality has become the focus as a turning point in these hard times to make sure we get the best return possible for our product.

our keynote speaker

Additionally, the workshop would not have been possible without the
generous contributions of our sponsors and partners.

We want to extend our thanks to the staff of the Confederation Centre of the Arts,
as well as Mavor’s Bistro & Bar for their professionalism throughout the preparation and delivery
of the Lobster Science Workshop.

Finally, we would like to sincerely thank all attendees for participating in our workshop.

We are confident that all stakeholders in the lobster industry
will benefit from the 7th Annual Lobster Science Workshop.

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