‘Free’ lobster, anyone?

There is a silver lining in every storm, or in the case of the weekend storm, free lobster. Here is an excerpt from the January 5th Times Transcript.

The surging tides that ripped across New Brunswick’s shores this weekend transformed this small coastal community into an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet.

The Chaleur Bay overflowed as the weekend’s heavy rains pushed the high tide up beyond the usual shoreline.

As the water began to recede in the early hours of Sunday morning, local residents were treated to an abundance of lobster sitting exposed on the shore.

“There were hundreds and hundreds of people who were there with flashlights filling pots,” said Kennedy Lewis, a local fishermen who could see the scene from his house.

“There was lobster for everybody, anybody who wanted to put on rubber boots and a raincoat could pick some up for a good lunch.”

Lewis said the mood in the community has been great since Sunday morning when people began to gather with flashlights around 7 a.m., and he noted that he could still see a few gourmand scavengers picking up some remaining delicacies yesterday.

Lewis described a free-for-all that left most people grinning ear-to-ear.

“Today everyone is boiling lobster, I went to the general store and you couldn’t get any salt,” he said. “Everybody was happy except the fishermen.”

Lewis said the situation won’t help a fishery that has been working hard at conservation efforts at a time when prices have collapsed, and he said he isn’t sure how it will affect the local fishing season that will open in the spring.

But not even the fishermen could resist the tasty crustaceans, albeit somewhat begrudgingly.

“I would rather have been eating hot dogs today and have this not happen, but if the lobster is there, it’s there,” said Lewis, who filled up four five-gallon pots.

“It is Mother Nature who did this. There is nothing we can do about it.”

The storm left more than lobster in the village. Residents were also busy mending fences and replacing shingles that had been torn from their roofs by the strong winds.