Blogger: June Swift

As my biography states, I live in Brier Island so I will be blogging about events and nature notes from my region. One of the big industries in Southwest Nova is lobster fishing. Our Region is District 34 and our season opens the last Monday of November and closes May 31st. My husband has been a lobster fisherman for 25 years now but this year he finally decided to retire so we walked around and he videotaped the fishing boats loaded with traps coming in while I took pictures.

We also decided to follow the whole process from unloading the lobsters at the lobster pound to how they are packed and shipped out to market. The lobster pound in our area is owned by D.B Kenney. He is the third generation to own this business that has provided jobs in our area for many years. Howard Johnson, manager of the pound, gave me a tour of the tanks where lobsters are placed into individual compartments so as not to damage each other. They are stored in 35 degree Fahrenheit water which makes the lobsters go into hibernation mode. That way they do not eat and they can last longer before being shipped off to markets in the U.S and Canada.

He also showed me some oddities he has collected throughout the year. Many are different colours and some have double claws and at the end of the season he releases them back into the Bay of Fundy.