Nova Scotia Lobster Season 2026-27: Dates for Every Fishing Area

There is no single Nova Scotia lobster season. Each of the province’s Lobster Fishing Areas (LFAs) has its own dates, so lobster is being landed somewhere in Nova Scotia in every month of the year. The biggest season, in LFAs 33 and 34 along the South Shore and in southwest Nova Scotia, runs from the last Monday in November to May 31. For 2026-27, that means it is due to open on Monday, November 30, 2026, weather permitting. The Bay of Fundy’s LFA 35 opens its fall season on October 14. Cape Breton, the Eastern Shore and the Northumberland Strait fish in spring, a small Gulf fishery runs in late summer, and the offshore LFA 41 is open all year.

This pillar guide gives you the dates for every area, a month-by-month calendar, the reasons behind the staggered seasons, and how to confirm a date with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). For the bigger picture, start with our complete guide to Nova Scotia lobster. For boundaries and maps, see lobster fishing areas in Nova Scotia explained.

Nova Scotia lobster season dates by fishing area, 2026-27

The table uses the most recent DFO notice for each area. Where DFO hasn’t yet announced 2027 dates, it shows the 2026 dates or the rule set in the Atlantic Fishery Regulations. Treat every date as “subject to change”, because DFO can and does move them.

LFA	Part of Nova Scotia	Season	Where the date comes from
25	Western Northumberland Strait (some Nova Scotia harvesters)	Opened Monday, August 10, 2026, expected to close in mid-October. Next opening scheduled for Monday, August 9, 2027	DFO Gulf five-year opening schedule
26A-1, 26A-2	Northumberland Strait	April 27 – June 27 (2026)	DFO Gulf 2026 plan
26A-3	Northumberland Strait	April 20 – June 20 (2026)	DFO Gulf 2026 plan
26B South	Western Cape Breton	April 30 – June 30 (2026)	DFO Gulf 2026 plan
26B North	Northwestern Cape Breton, including Chéticamp	May 2 – July 2 (2026)	DFO Gulf 2026 plan
27	Northern and eastern Cape Breton	May 8 – July 8 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
28	Bras d’Or Lake	April 30 – June 30 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
29	Southern Cape Breton to the Strait of Canso	April 20 – June 20 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
30	Southeastern Cape Breton	May 9 – July 10 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
31A	Guysborough County	April 19 – June 20 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
31B	Eastern Shore	April 9 – June 10 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
32	Eastern Shore to the Halifax area	April 9 – June 10 (2026)	DFO Maritimes 2026 notice
33	Halifax area to Shelburne County	Monday, November 30, 2026 – May 31, 2027	Regulation: last Monday in November to May 31
34	Southwest Nova Scotia	Monday, November 30, 2026 – May 31, 2027	Regulation: last Monday in November to May 31
35	Upper Bay of Fundy	October 14 – December 31, 2026, and February 28 – July 31, 2027	Regulation and DFO management plan
41	Offshore, beyond 50 nautical miles	Year-round, January 1 – December 31	DFO 2026 offshore notice

Two notes on the table:

• Spring 2027 dates for LFAs 26A, 26B and 27–32 aren’t out yet. DFO publishes them each year, usually in the months before the season. 2026 was year one of a five-year pilot that shifts the dates in every Eastern Nova Scotia LFA except LFA 28, so expect 2027 dates close to the 2026 ones, but confirm before you plan around them.
• LFAs 36 and 38 aren’t in the table. They are Bay of Fundy areas managed from DFO’s office in St. George, New Brunswick, and are covered in our LFA guide. Their seasons open on the second Tuesday in November, which is November 10 in 2026.

Seasons in the regulations vs seasons on the water

Schedule XIV of the Atlantic Fishery Regulations sets a “close time” for each LFA, and the open season is everything outside it. For LFAs 33 and 34, the close time runs from June 1 to 07:00 on the last Monday in November. For LFA 35, there are two close times: January 1 to 07:00 on the last day of February, and August 1 to 07:00 on October 14.

For Eastern Nova Scotia and the Gulf, though, the regulation dates are out of date. The schedule still lists LFA 27 as opening at 05:00 on May 15, for example, but DFO’s 2026 notice set May 8. The Fishery (General) Regulations let DFO’s regional directors vary close times by order, and that’s how the real dates are set each year. So always read the year’s DFO notice, not the regulation table.

When is lobster in season in Nova Scotia? A month-by-month calendar

This calendar shows which areas touching Nova Scotia are open in each month of the 2026-27 cycle. LFA 41 is open in every month, so it’s left out.

Month	Inshore areas open in or next to Nova Scotia
October 2026	LFA 25 (until mid-month), LFA 35 from October 14
November 2026	LFA 35; LFAs 33 and 34 from November 30
December 2026	LFAs 33, 34 and 35 (LFA 35 closes December 31)
January 2027	LFAs 33 and 34
February 2027	LFAs 33 and 34; LFA 35 reopens February 28
March 2027	LFAs 33, 34 and 35
April 2027	LFAs 33, 34 and 35; most Eastern Shore, Cape Breton and Northumberland Strait areas open during the month (based on 2026 dates)
May 2027	Almost everything: 26A, 26B, 27–32, 33 and 34 (until May 31) and 35
June 2027	LFA 35, Northumberland Strait and Cape Breton areas until late June or early July; LFAs 31B and 32 close around June 10 (2026 dates)
July 2027	LFA 35 (until July 31); LFAs 27, 30 and 26B North into early July (2026 dates)
August 2027	LFA 25 from Monday, August 9 (scheduled)
September 2027	LFA 25

May is the month when the most Nova Scotia areas are fishing at once. August and September are the quietest inshore months, with only Gulf LFA 25.

Is lobster in season right now?

As of mid-October 2026, yes, though only in a few places. The LFA 25 fall season in the western Northumberland Strait was scheduled to open on August 10, 2026 and to run about nine weeks; in 2025, it ran from August 11 to October 12. The offshore LFA 41 fishery operates year-round. And the Bay of Fundy’s LFA 35 fall season opens on October 14, followed by the big South Shore and southwest opening on November 30.

Why are Nova Scotia lobster seasons staggered?

Different parts of the coast fish at different times for three reasons.

1. Conservation. DFO uses seasons as a tool to keep traps out of the water during sensitive periods. Its inshore management plan lists “closures during spawning/molting/extrusion periods” alongside trap limits and minimum sizes as ways of keeping fishing mortality moderate. Because water temperatures and moult timing differ from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Breton, the sensitive periods differ too.
2. History and local advice. Fishing seasons were introduced in the Bay of Fundy area as early as 1879. Since the mid-1980s, each area’s advisory committee has been the main way harvesters advise DFO on measures such as season dates, so every LFA’s calendar reflects its own conditions and fleet.
3. Fine-tuning. Dates are still being adjusted. DFO’s 2026 notice for LFAs 27–32 started a five-year pilot that moves those seasons, without changing their length, “to reduce the handling of egg-bearing or recently moulted lobster at the end of the season.”

A side effect is that someone in the region is almost always landing lobster, which helps keep Nova Scotia lobster on the market year-round.

Weather delays: how a season opening is decided

DFO’s authority to vary season dates exists mainly for safety. Its management plan says changes to season dates “are usually due to inclement weather or ice conditions that could potentially affect the safe opening of an LFA.”

For the LFA 33 and 34 opening, known as Dumping Day, DFO’s briefing note on the season opening describes the process:

1. Before the opening, representatives from each LFA advisory committee join conference calls with DFO, the Canadian Coast Guard and Environment and Climate Change Canada.
2. If the forecast calls for winds above 26 knots, the opening is automatically delayed.
3. If the forecast is under that limit, the industry representatives vote. More than 50% must be in favour for the season to open.

Other areas have their own rules. In the southern Gulf, DFO’s 2026 plan says that if bad weather delays an opening, the season can be extended by one day for each day of delay, up to four days, at industry’s request. In LFA 25, a delayed opening shifts the season by one day for each day lost, also up to four days. Opening day in LFA 25 is for setting traps only.

Dumping Day 2026: what to expect

The regulated opening for LFAs 33 and 34 is 07:00 on Monday, November 30, 2026. Whether boats leave that morning depends on the forecast and the vote described above, and the decision is usually made only days ahead. These two areas held 1,659 licences between them in DFO’s 2021 count, so a one-day delay moves an enormous amount of gear. Once the traps are set, the season runs through the winter to May 31, 2027. Our Nova Scotia lobster guide has more on the scale of the fishery.

How to check DFO notices yourself

If you need a date you can rely on, for a business, a trip or a story, check these in order:

1. DFO’s yearly fishery decisions. Each year DFO posts notices such as “2026 Lobster Fishing Areas 27-32 (Maritimes Region)” and “2026 Offshore lobster – LFA 41.” They give the anticipated season dates, trap limits and size limits.
2. DFO Gulf Region notices. The Gulf Region posts a yearly conservation harvesting plan for LFAs 23, 24, 26A and 26B, and a separate plan for LFA 25.
3. The variation order registries. Any change to a close time is made by variation order. DFO’s commercial lobster page links to the Maritimes and Gulf orders registries.
4. The regulation itself. Schedule XIV of the Atlantic Fishery Regulations is the baseline, but remember that the variation orders override it.
5. Local harvester associations and news. The outcome of the Dumping Day weather calls is usually reported by local radio and fishing news.

When is the best time to buy Nova Scotia lobster?

The season calendar drives supply, and supply drives price.

• Late winter is usually the most expensive time. Shore prices in LFAs 33 and 34 “usually peak during February and March, when fishing effort and landings are the lowest,” Atlantic Fisherman reported in April 2024, when harvesters were being paid a record $20 a pound. The same report noted that the shore price traditionally drops once spring LFAs across Atlantic Canada open.
• Late spring is when the most areas are fishing. In May almost every Nova Scotia area is open, so there is more local lobster around.
• For the holidays, the South Shore and Fundy have it covered. LFAs 33, 34 and 35 are all open in December.

For grading, shell quality and where to shop, read how to buy live lobster in Nova Scotia. To find lobster on a plate in season, see where to eat lobster in Nova Scotia. The rules behind each area’s season, trap limits and sizes are covered in lobster regulations in Nova Scotia, and every area guide is collected in the seasons and fishing areas hub.