Lobsters kept commercial fish harvesters in the Canadian province of Quebec afloat in 2024, accounting for 38% of the volume and 64% of overall revenues from all commercial fisheries during the year. However, cuts to shrimp quotas resulted in the lowest overall landings in a decade for the fishing industry, reports Quebec news agency leQuotidien. 

Total catches of all species in 2024 reached 38,741 metric tons, 175t lower than the average landings in the last 10 years, said Simon Desrochers, an economist with Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

Revenues for Quebec fishermen in 2024 totaled CAD 359 million ($250.83m), similar to the revenues in 2023, but CAD 101m lower than the CAD 460m in 2022, said Desrochers.

Still, lobster was the bright spot. With dock prices at around CAD 7.00 per pound in 2024 and a record catch of 14,664t, compared to 13,765t in 2023, lobster landings this year were worth about CAD 228m.

Snow crab also added to the volume and value of the Quebec industry. While crab catches dropped by 12%, from 15,205t in 2023 to 13,375t in 2024, revenues increased from CAD 77m in 2023 to CAD 99m in 2024, thanks to a 48.5% increase in dock prices. Quebec fishers were paid an average of CAD 3.46/lb for their crab in 2024.

Meanwhile, revenue from shrimp catches was only CAD 4.0m in 2024, a sharp drop from CAD 15.0m in 2023.

Recall that in January 2024, Canada's fisheries minister Diane Lebouthillier slashed the quota for four shrimp fishing areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to 3,000t, as reported by Undercurrent News. This was a sharp drop from the 14,000t quota allocated for 2023 in those zones, which are fished mainly by inshore fleets from Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.