The weather in Glace Bay and surrounding areas caused problems for lobster fishermen over the weekend after hundreds of traps were destroyed.
“It’s pretty bad. A lot of people lost a lot of gear,” says fisherman Marcel Gaigneur.
The damage extends from Glace Bay to Main-à-Dieu, N.S.
“Just continuous winds… The winds started picking up and getting higher, higher and higher during the night. Everything we had was up north, and we lost it all,” says Pat Neary, another local fisherman.
Neary lost all 275 of his lobster traps at a $100 a piece.
“Everybody is taking it hard, really hard. There's a lot of money gone down the drain. Then you have to take the money out of what you have left and buy more stuff,” says Neary.
“It's terrible. This is everybody's living, everybody has families. The longer we are in, we're not making money, paying bills, and we can't support our families. It's just terrible.”
The start of the season was delayed for two days due to weather. Fishermen say the winds they experienced on the weekend were the worst they’ve seen in years.
“You lose a few, but nothing like this. It’s been a long time since we had a blow like this,” says Bill MacDonald.
While the traps can be replaced, there's worry about the affects the storm has had on the lobsters themselves. Many of them that washed ashore were females, and a large portion died before they could drop their eggs.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore
