by Yan Zhonghua Nike Air Presto Ultra Flyknit Sale , Zeng Dejin, Cristoph De Caermichael
HALIFAX, Canada, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Atlantic lobster, a maritime delicacy, is gradually becoming a popular dish, despite the high prices, on the table of the Chinese people, especially during the country's most important holiday Nike Air Presto QS Sale , the Lunar New Year which falls on this Feb. 19.
Previously, the Chinese lobster market is mainly dominated by Australia's warm water soft-shell ones. Now the hard-shell lobsters from Canada's Atlantic Ocean, known as the "King of Seafood", manage to crawl their way onto the Chinese table, as seafood connoisseurs in the country regard Atlantic lobsters as " wild and not polluted."
Bureau of Statistics data showed that from 2010 to 2013, Canada 's live lobster exports to China rose from 7.67 million Canadian dollars to 41.75 million dollars, registering an annual growth rate of 113.79 percent. As of October 2014, this figure reached 56. 89 million Canadian dollars.
On a cold winter day in late January, Xinhua reporters adventured an incredible lobster harvesting journey by driving 1 Nike Air Presto Womens Sale , 800 kilometers from Toronto to Lockeport, a fishing town in one of Canada's three Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, to see how lobsters are harvested from the cold pristine water along the rugged north Atlantic coast, packaged live and shipped to Chinese people's dining table.
HARVESTING
"The lobster boat is ready, waiting on you," Michael Cotter, a lobster dealer from Lockeport's Cotter's Ocean Products Inc., greeted us Nike Air Presto Mens Sale , together with his partner Ernie White, a lobster fisherman, when seeing us walk toward their boat on an early morning.
As soon as we hurried on to the 100,000-ton boat, the engine was started and the boat headed slowly toward the open water, slicing through the chilly waves. The swaying and plunging of the vessel soon took its infamous toll, we were overwhelmed by seasickness, the smell of the sea and the fishy boat. We started to vomit, shivering meanwhile due to the bone-chilling cold Nike Air Presto Pink Sale , despite the bright sunshine.
Cotter, in his 50s, told us that you must obtain a license issued by the federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean in advance for lobster fishing. The number of trapping cages allowed for each license, which costs 500,000 Canadian dollars, is different, depending on the fishing areas, normally ranging between 200 and 300 traps. So far, only 6 Nike Air Presto Burgundy Sale ,000 licenses were issued in the past two decades.
White, whose family had been engaged in lobster fishery for generations in Lockeport, a historic port town, told us that the Canadian government has strict rules for lobster fishery in order to promote a sustained development of the aquatic industry. Each lobster must be carefully examined and measured to ensure that it has reached the legal size. Undersize and berried females (egg- bearing) are returned to the sea. This conservation practice dated back to the early 1870s.
Our boat slowed a bit as it neared Cotter's white buoy, drifting in waters 15 kilometers away from the shore and 40 meters deep. Each lobster fisher has uniquely colored buoys identifying their trap locations. The buoy-lines were secured by gaffe (long pole with a hook on the end) and secured to an electronic hauler. Cotter and White were getting busy. Winches began to whirl and the lobster traps were being pulled out of the water.
With rubber gloves on both hands, White quickly captured the lobsters in the trap and carefully examined their carapace length with a metal gauge to ensure that they were of legal size. He then started to put a tracking rubber ring with a digital code embedded on the lobsters for buyers to trace the lobsters.
"The rubber rings can also help prevent the lobsters from huddling together and fighting each other," he explained.
White said his salary was around 5,000 Canadian dollars a month in winter time, or 20 percent of each harvest. But he could earn 10 Nike Air Presto White Sale ,000 Canadian dollars a week in summer peak season.
Aside from some advances in boat and gear technology, little has changed in the past 150 years in the way of lobster fishing, which involves hours of intensive labor at sea. The uncertainty of the weather and the catch could be frustrated.
When we asked him this question, White said: "Yes, it's uncertain. Each time when I go out fishing, I don't know what I can get. But everyday is a new day. My dream is to buy my own boat. " He said that a new lobster fishing boat would cost 100,000 Canadian dollars, even a second-hand one, 50 Nike Air Presto Blue Sale ,000 Canadian dollars.
Lobster fishermen, who are at the low-end of the industry, now plan to raise and unify the purchasing prices of lobsters, which have remained almost the same for the past years despite the fact of the rapidly increasing demand.
"It's of course a good news that more and more buyers come from China," White said to us, "I know Feb. 19 is China's Spring Festival (the Lunar New Year) this year."
Considering our serious seasickness, Cotter and White decided to retrieve only 10-20 lobster traps this time, replace baits with fish heads and then return to shore.
On the way back, White was quietly looking at the fading horizon Nike Air Presto Purple Sale , and his beard glinted in the sunshine. His image was reminding us Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea.
PACKAGED LIVE, SHIPPED TO CHINESE TABLE
"Look at the Chinese flag, raised especially for you," Francis Morrissey, manager of the Royal Star Foods in Tignish, a fishing community in western Prince County, welcomed us at the northwestern tip of Prince Edward Island.
Founded 94 years ago, the company, owned by 185 fishermen Nike Air Presto Red Sale , is one of the largest Atlantic lobster processors on the island.
"We used to do more ships into the U.S. and Europe than to China, but live lobster export to China has quadrupled in the last three years," he said, adding "I see a great future, because the Asian countries including China have developed
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