Published Jun 15, 2025 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 2 minute readEvan MacKenzie, 11, bands lobster at the fishermen skills competition held as part of Lobsterpalooza at Ballantynes Cove in Cape George on Sunday. Evan fished with his father every day he wasn’t in school during the 2025 season. Photo by Aaron Beswick /The Chronicle HeraldOn Sunday, Cape George celebrated anyway.Poor prices ($7 a pound for market sized lobster at season’s opening), worse weather and some of the lowest landings in recent memory have plagued the 2025 lobster season for the communities along the peninsula that juts out of Nova Scotia’s north shore to divide the Northumberland Strait from St. Georges Bay.“Bittersweet,” Kim Novak said of the LFA 26a season as it winds down.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentMinutes later, the crowd gathered for the Ballantynes Cove Lobsterpalooza was cheering Novak and her partner Nick Vink as they competed in the fishermen’s skills competition.Wharf rivalries came out as teams coiled rope, stacked traps, baited bags and banded lobsters.Chandra Gavin graded each not just on their time, but their tidiness.With the sun shining on their one day a week off during the frenzied two-month season, the captains and deckhands all seemed glad enough to not talk about the season they’d had thus far.“He doesn’t mind the weather,” said Jonathan MacKenzie, grinning ear to ear as he watched his 11-year-old Evan deftly band lobsters with the adults.Saturdays and every school in-service day through May and June, Evan was aboard the Evan and James, fishing out of Ballantynes Cove with his father.The fourth generation of his family fishing these waters, Evan proudly took the helm as they came in each Saturday and steamed the boat named for him and his grandfather into the wharf to unload their catch.Article contentIt may have been the cold water that brought capelin this far south to spawn.The huge schools of the small bait fish are an anticipated spring visitor to beaches in Newfoundland and Labrador, but not St. Georges Bay.“Not in my lifetime,” said Novak, who hadn’t seen this much capelin for such a prolonged period in the 19 years she’s been fishing.Most male capelin die after spawning, and there’s speculation amongst fishermen that the lobster preferred feeding on their readily available corpses over the bait in their traps.The water was cold which slowed lobster movement and strong easterly winds characterized much of May.Whatever the causes of this year’s poor landings, the Cape was celebrating its fishermen and its fathers on Sunday. There were highland dancers, a piper, local musical acts, balloons and face painting in the sun.“We’re celebrating anyway,” said organizer Mike MacEachern.“We have a lot here worth celebrating.”It was Novak, who fishes out of Livingston’s Cove and Vink who fishes out of Havre Boucher, who won the 2025 skills competition. Second place went to Murray MacEachern and third to Shaw Boyd.Article content
Despite a hard season, Cape George celebrates with Lobsterpalooza
