N.S. lobster heist being investigated by Mounties

Police in Nova Scotia are investigating after 1,400 pounds of live lobster were stolen from a secure compound.

The RCMP said 14 crates of lobsters were stolen from the compound on Morris Island Wharf on Morris Island near Yarmouth. Each crate contained 100 pounds of lobster. The lobsters were taken between 5 p.m. on Monday and 9 a.m. on Tuesday, police said in a release.

Const. Kerri Chartrand said the lobsters were being held at a fish plant when they were stolen. They were definitely not freed, she added.

Lobster season has just gotten underway in the area and the theft is significant for the industry and local residents, she said.

Geoff Irvine of the Lobster Council of Canada said it is “very rare” that lobsters are stolen, and while he didn’t want to speculate about who could do it, he said he would be very surprised if it was a fellow fisherman.

“The industry generally is pretty trustworthy,” he said. “People generally look after each other.”

Eric Enno Tamm, the general manager at ThisFish, an organization dedicated to helping people trace their seafood back to those that caught it, said he has never heard of a lobster theft before.

“Because most lobster aren’t identified with tags, it would be easy to sell stolen lobsters into the market,” he said via email.

Tamm said the group hasn’t “done any specific research” whether there is a black market for lobster.

Irvine estimates the lobsters would fetch $8 a pound, making them worth about $11,200.

The criminal offence of theft over $5,000 carries a maximum prison sentence of two years if convicted, police say. Police are searching for any witnesses.

It wouldn’t be the first rare theft of a well-known Canadian commodity. In 2012, thieves stole $30 million in maple syrup produced in Quebec. Police made arrests in that case in 2014.