March 8, 2015 — Maine is in the midst of a lobster boom. But Maine’s dependence on the lobster, almost to the exclusion of other species that used to deliver significant value, is cause for concern in the same way as a small town’s heavy dependence on a paper mill for employment and economic activity.
Maine fishermen marked a pair of pocket-lining milestones last year: The lobster fishery had its most valuable year yet, and so did Maine’s commercial fisheries in their entirety.
Fishermen hauled in nearly $457 million worth of lobster, an all-time high. All together, Maine’s fisheries were worth $585.3 million last year, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Of course, those two figures are closely linked, which is the crux of yet another fisheries-related milestone for Maine — a worrisome one: The state hit an all-time high last year in terms of the lobster’s share of Maine’s fisheries value. The lobster accounted for 78.1 percent of it. That’s a jump from the 2013 figure of 68.5 percent.
Read the full editorial from the Bangor Daily News