CHARLOTTETOWN — Discount grocery chain Nofrills has successfully pushed into the Atlantic Canada market, leaving questions about the implications to the competition.

"In Ontario, where the Nofrills banner started, discounters are now capturing almost half of what consumers spend on groceries, so if you compare that to the Maritimes, it's only 12 per cent in the Maritimes," Carman Allison, an industry analyst with the Toronto-based Nielsen Company, told CBC News, while discussing the Loblaws-owned discount supermarket. "National retailers such as Loblaws have seen their demand and the success in other regions of Canada, now it's time for Maritimers to experience that growth."

P.E.I. — The P.E.I government has just made it easier to find restaurant and hospitality sites on the Island with the introduction of its new mobile tourism apps.

“We created these mobile apps to ensure our visitors are always connected to the information they need when they are travelling,” said Tourism and Culture Minister Robert Vessey. “This includes events calendars, restaurant listings, great ideas for things to do while on the Island, places to stay and essential information like grocery store locations and maps.”

The apps, which are accessible by all Internet-ready smartphones, cull information from the Tourism P.E.I. website, the government of P.E.I. website and another source of culinary data.

NORTHPORT, P.E.I. — Tuna fisherman Doug Fraser got his due yesterday, Feb. 1, when P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz awarded the tradesman with the Premier’s Cup for reeling in the province’s largest Bluefin tuna for 2010, which weighed 1,184 pounds.

“I congratulate Mr. Fraser on his achievements and on his significant contributions to the tuna fishery,” said Ghiz of Fraser who is co-chair of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association tuna advisory board and an industry member on the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. “The tuna fishery is overcoming a number of challenges and that is because of the hard work of fishers like Mr. Fraser and others who help to ensure it is well managed and sustainable.”

P.E.I. — Lobster are the subject of study at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) where researchers are hoping to determine how to differentiate between a meaty lobster and its counterpart in a bid to boast industry prices, according to CBC News.

Different consumers have different needs. Processors, for example, hope to crack into lobsters that haven’t just finished moulting and have lots of meat, while American consumers like soft-shelled lobsters that are easier to eat.

"There is a demand for the different quality standards, or the different quality levels of the lobster. We just need to be able to put the right lobster in the right hands," Jean Lavallée, researcher for UPEI's Lobster Science Centre told the CBC.