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The Council’s acting chair, Léonard LeBlanc, is enthusiastic about this project: “The gap analysis is the first step of a full chain lobster traceability pilot project, involving industry participants in three provinces. The goal is to test the implementation of traceability in the lobster industry, with real life situations and challenges, from boat to plate. Our hope is that these tests will broaden the industry’s collective knowledge and understanding of the workings of full chain traceability. Another positive aspect is that lessons learned in this pilot project will be shared with interested sectors of the fish and seafood industry”.

Among the conclusions of the gap analysis, the consultants found that lobster buying companies, like restaurant chains and large food distributors, are increasingly asking for more timely and detailed information from their suppliers relative to the origin and processing of products they buy. “We know that food safety is becoming ever more crucial for anyone involved in food production. In this context, all parties want to be able to reduce the time and cost of a food recall, should it ever happen. As an exporting industry, we need to be ready to fulfill our customers’ requirements” said Mr. LeBlanc.

Participants in the pilot project include representatives from two lobster fishermen organizations, six live shipping and processing enterprises, and two brokers from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. The next phase of the project will be the implementation of software and mechanisms to make traceability work with the participants in lobster season, most probably next spring.

As the proponent of this project, the Lobster Council of Canada is assisted by representatives of the Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries of New Brunswick who are leading the project’s activities. The project was initiated by the Traceability Task Group of the Canadian Council of Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministers. Funding was provided by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, as well as the Fisheries departments of the five Eastern Canadian provinces: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec.

Report

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Information:
Geoff Irvine, Executive Director
902-423-1155

Joanne Losier, Project Officer
Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries of New Brunswick
506-743-7228

The lobster industry is the largest fishery by landed value in Canada with export market value approaching 1 billion dollars in 2010.

We want to see which restaurants and chefs use our local, sustainable and nutritious (lobster contains healthy amounts of iron, zinc, calcium, and iodine, as well as vitamins A, B, and B6) Nova Scotia lobster in the most creative way.

Menus will be selected from all submitted, then judged by the Food Day Canada Panel of Canadian culinary experts.

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On our short walk to the ´tank´, I asked him where the lobsters came from and was truly shocked to hear ´Canada´. Looking at my widened eyes, he said ´Don´t worry, they didn´t swim, they came by air´. And I actually thought they were local.

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Mr. Doucette trapped the lobster near North Rustico on the Island’s north shore. “I had only ever seen one of those on the television,” he says

The extremely uncommon pigment is the outcome of a genetic disorder.

Mr. Doucette put the lobster in a tank in his house, took some photos, and called a friend from the Rustico Harbour Fisheries Museum. “They have a little holding tank where they can put seafood for it. So we’re going to keep him in there.”

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The Montreal cooking show host was the second Canadian and first Quebecer to “reign supreme,” as they say on the show, which aired Sunday night on Food Network Canada.

Hughes beat out Bobby Flay, one of the show’s resident culinary masters, in the kitchen stadium battle, which featured the secret ingredient — Canadian lobster.

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Live lobsters give full flavour to dishes, so opt for fresh over canned varieties. A bonus to steaming your own lobster (see recipe below) is the leftover cooking liquid makes a uniquely flavourful stock which can be used in many fish dishes.

To shell a lobster, first halve lengthwise. Twist off the claws at joint at the body, and separate into claw and arm sections. Break off the small part of the claw and remove meat, then discard claw shells. From here you can crack the arm and pick out meat. Last (but not least!) remove meat from lobster tail.

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Pictou is a charming, historic Nova Scotia seaport with a population of almost 4,000, just across the Northumberland Strait from Prince Edward Island.

Its upset victory suggests that you don’t have to be a big city to throw a big party -it also suggests that people in Pictou are fiercely proud of their festival and have access to computers.

This season, the Pictou Lobster Carnival -which runs July 8 to 10 -marks the end of fishing season with three days of seemingly nonstop lobster dinners, music and special events.

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Participating fishermen tag their catch and the information is entered intoThisfish.info.

Earlier this week, Nova Scotian Gordon Beaton caught a lobster in the Northumberland Strait, tagged it and sold it on. A couple of days later, Toronto diner Lynn Patterson ordered lobster at the Royal York Hotel.

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The rare crustacean, who looks like he’s already been cooked, was delivered to a Quebec supermarket a few weeks ago in a routine shipment of lobsters.

The Trois-Rivieres store has refused multiple offers to sell the three-pound critter, who has since become a celebrity among customers.

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