Lobster fishermen drive pickup truck sales in southwest Nova Scotia

Sales of large pickup trucks are revving up in southwest Nova Scotia thanks to lobster fishermen with money in their pockets who have already spent millions on new vehicles this year.

According to automotive market analyst Polk Company, 646 large pickup trucks were sold in 2015 in the southern end of the province,primarily Yarmouth and Shelburne County a 25 per centincrease over the previous year.

In the first two months of 2016,sales shot up 46 per cent, when 130 pickups were sold.

The sales areaoverlays DFO'slobster fishing area 34home to Canada's biggest lobster fleet and the driver of the truck sales.

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"The lobster fishermen have been doing great this year. It's great for the whole community,"saidJeff Little, owner of three dealerships in the area, including two inYarmouth.

"When they do well, the community benefits. Of course as a major supplier of trucks, we are definitely selling more trucks,"

'Great for the whole community'

About 80per centof his sales are trucks, he said.With an average price of around $45,000, the five dealerships in the southwest market area would have sold about $5.8million vehicles in January and February.

Fishermen are buying Chevy Silverados, GMC Sierras, Ford 150s and Dodge Rams.Marcel Pothier, dealer principalof Tusket Ford, estimates those lines account for 90 per centof large truck sales.

"We have seen a huge spike in truck registrations. Especially in Pubnico, Barrington and Cape Sable Island," Pothier said.

Thosethree communities are all home to large fishing fleets.Pothier and Little both say sales were suppressed last February and March by stormy winter weather, which slightly inflates this year's increase.

Still, both say the lobster fishery is in the midst of a very good run that started in 2014translating into much higher sales, not only of trucks but of off-road vehicles.

Pothier says combined sales oftrucks and SUVs at his dealership are up 63 per cent.

"The impact of the lobster fishery, it has a cascading effect throughout the economy here," Pothier toldCBC News.

The result: 'a reallygood year'

Everything has come together for lobster fishermen like Lance Cottreau in Wedgeport.

"I've actually had a really good year," Cottreau said after tying up at the wharf.

Contributing factors include lower fuel costs, steady catches, prices that have reached as high as$10perpound, and a low Canadian dollar helping U.S. sales. Even the weather has co-operated.

"It makes a big difference for us. It's all about the bottom dollar. It's not how much fish you catch it's how much money you make doing it,"Cottreausaid.

Survivinglean years

Jeff Little bought his GM dealership in Yarmouth in 2008, just in time to see General Motors enter bankruptcyatthe onset of an economicrecession. His dealership survived and he has expanded.

"We went through a number of years where it wasn't that great. There was a downturn," Little said.

"Lobster prices were down. All the businesses in town felt that and now it's going in the right direction. There's new businesses in town."

Laid-off oilfield worker Matt Goodwin is back in Yarmouthdriving a jacked up Dodge Laramiewith Alberta plates.

The former fishing boat deckhand left four years ago. Now his pickuphas taken him back to Yarmouth looking for work, at least until the oilfield economy improves out West.

He doesn't expect the fishery as good as it is doingwill pay as well.

"First of all you pack up your whole life and leave it behind to go out there. And then you just get settled in and get something made and then you have to pack that up and start again. It's hard," Goodwin said.