PORTLAND, Maine — November 1, 2012 — After enduring low prices because of a lobster glut this summer, Peter McAleney felt the seafood industry was finally starting to stabilize this fall.
That is, until Superstorm Sandy hit the coast. The storm not only spread physical devastation, it shut down major seafood markets.
"There's been nothing going on — no trucks, planes or anything going down through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania," said McAleney, who owns New Meadows Lobster Co. in Portland. "People aren't interested in seafood right now. They're interested in getting their lives back in order."
The result is likely to be a repeat of the lobster glut — affecting the entire seafood industry this time — with demand dropping out of sight in the biggest markets of the Northeast.
McAleney said he lost a big order from Pennsylvania Thursday morning because his customer decided he wouldn't sell much lobster to thousands of people who still don't have electricity.
"Seafood is the last thing you're going to bring home to a house without power," said Chris Fream, senior sales executive with North Atlantic Seafood in Portland.
The industry's "wheels are falling off," said Fream. "New York is not taking fish and all the seaside restaurants up and down the East Coast are not open or not having any demand."
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald