During his research into global fisheries and the industry built around Atlantic lobster, one of Canadian journalist Greg Mercer’s key stops was the Chinese Fisheries and Seafood Expo in Qingdao, China.

“I think everybody in the industry is watching China to see what happens with the tariffs,” Mercer recently told Atlantic Business Magazine, following the release of his book, The Lobster Trap.

“When this happened in 2018, with the U.S. and China—they had a trade war that involved lobster—it devastated the fishery. So that’s a big question for fishermen and seafood companies in Atlantic Canada right now. How long does that fight with China last?”

As Atlantic Business Magazine has previously reported, that question echoes the mix of uncertainty and concern from organizations including the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Association of Seafood Producers.

While the trade dispute with China and the associated tariffs on Canadian shellfish is unresolved, Mercer’s book offers details that give essential context for current affairs. He looks at statistics, the evolution of lobster transport and growth in Chinese orders for live lobster.

He writes: “By the end of 2024, China was importing 24,480 tonnes of live lobster from Canada—a three-fold increase from the volumes of 2016—making it the largest market for live lobster in the world, according to data from the Lobster Council of Canada.”

A larger story, however, is revealed through Mercer’s many interviews and rare details showing the trade relationship as more than a dollar figure. These include personal accounts from a logistics manager for a seafood company in Qingdao, the owner of a packing plant in St. George, New Brunswick and a representative for a Halifax-based seafood shipper.

The book offers similarly strong context for Canada-U.S. trade relations.

“The Canadian and American seafood industry has been interwoven for centuries, and that can’t just be switched off. Maine, for example, sent 40 per cent of its lobster to Canada for processing in 2024, and most of that was trucked back across the border as claw and knuckle meat, frozen tails and other products,” the author said.

Throughout the book, what Mercer makes clear is—apart from the trade wars—that plenty of fishers in the Maritimes are “uneasy about the future” for a myriad of reasons. They’re wondering what comes next for their enterprises. Supply and service businesses are similarly uncertain.

During his time as the Globe & Mail’s reporter for Atlantic Canada (he still works with them, though in a different capacity), Mercer spent time in southwestern Nova Scotia, covering the Indigenous fishery and local dispute over who had the right to catch lobster. In the book, he expands on his daily news work with carefully researched information and key Indigenous perspectives. The book also gets into the lobster business more broadly, the changing environment and pressures.

In addition to offering historical context for revised lobster counts and new approaches to fisheries management, Mercer also writes of boom times in Western Newfoundland and Maritime fisher fears in the context of trade, a changing industry and environment.

“In the final chapter, I talk to a fisherman in Grand Manan (New Brunswick). I had gone there thinking this was the peak of the boom times. That the fishermen there can’t catch lobster fast enough. What he told me is actually no, the declines (in lobster) they’re seeing in the U.S. are (also) happening here,” Mercer told Atlantic Business Magazine.

“If you’re a fisherman on the southern edge of the Canadian fishery like down in Grand Manan or the Bay of Fundy, or down in Southwestern Nova Scotia, you’re very worried,” he said.

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About our Book Report series

In Book Report, Atlantic Business Magazine is highlighting non-fiction focused on Atlantic Canada and Atlantic Canadians, and from Atlantic Canadian publishers. These short pieces will offer details from upcoming business biographies, Q&As on new releases and in some cases fresh commentary from non-fiction authors on the subjects of their published works.

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