SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick – New Brunswick’s ailing lobster fishery could soon get a hand up from Red Lobster.

Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet said Wednesday he has been in talks with the restaurant chain to secure aid for New Brunswick’s $400-million lobster fishery.

A deal could see Red Lobster take an active role in preserving stocks in the province.

“If there’s an opportunity for collaboration, so that we get to the stage that we’re putting a lot more lobster in the water, in the millions, [that’s] what we’d like to achieve,” he said.

Red Lobster’s parent company, Darden Restaurants, has handed out $4 million from its environmental trust fund for conservation efforts worldwide since 1997.

Red Lobster spokeswoman Wendy Spirduso wouldn’t estimate how many New Brunswick lobsters end up on dinner plates in the chain’s 680 restaurants across North America, but she said the numbers are significant enough to give the company a vested interest in keeping the crustaceans around.

“Lobster is our icon,” she said. “Enhancing that stock, being sure that it’s protected, being sure that it’s sustainable, is very important to us.”

Red Lobster representatives will visit New Brunswick in August.