February 7, 2020 — His boat loaded with empty lobster traps, Gary Nichols pulls up to his fish house on Conch Key.
“Another happy day to get to the dock,” as his crew tied up his boat and began unloading the traps.
Although China is 9,000 miles away, the coronavirus is causing the lobster season to end early for Nichols and many of the other lobstermen of the Florida Keys.
“Traditionally we fish to the middle or end of March,” Nichols explained. “But the Chinese have stopped the buying due to the coronavirus.”
With the virus spreading across China, commercial flights from the United States were recently halted. But even before the airlines stopped flying, the major buyers in China were canceling orders for Florida’s spiny lobster. Fear surrounding the virus was hitting the country’s economy and keeping people out of restaurants.
Florida lobster is considered a delicacy in China and is often the star of any celebratory dinner, especially during Chinese New Year which has been underway for the past week. For Florida’s lobstermen, this is when prices soar.
“We had just gotten our prices up to a decent level,” Nichols explained. “This is when our price is normally between $12 and $20 a pound for lobster.”