ELLSWORTH, Maine — January 7, 2013– Maine had another record year for lobster landings in 2012, according to state officials.
The price they received for their catch, however, is an entirely different matter. According to Maine Department of Marine Resources estimates, the average annual price fishermen received for their catch in 2012 was the lowest it has been in 18 years.
In 2011, the overall statewide volume of lobster landings in Maine topped 100 million pounds for the first time ever, with a total catch volume of nearly 105 million pounds. The preliminary estimate for a statewide landings total in 2012 is 123.3 million pounds, which represents an increase of more than 18 million pounds over the prior year.
The dockside value of the estimated 2012 landings is nearly $331 million, which is $3.7 million less than the $334.7 million value of the prior year’s landings, according to DMR officials.
“This unprecedented preliminary landings report provides us with both an opportunity and a challenge,” Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources, said Friday in a prepared statement.
“We need to look closely at this abundant resource and address the challenges presented when supply exceeds demand, as it did this past year, resulting in a decreased overall value which affects the entire industry,” Keliher continued. “To put this into perspective, in 2005, the industry landed 70 million pounds for $320 million.”
As the economy has sagged, the worldwide demand for lobster has decreased, which has suppressed the price Maine lobstermen have earned for their catch. As a result, lobstermen have increased their efforts in an attempt to make up in volume what they have lost in the per-pound price.
In 2011, the average annual price lobstermen received was $3.19 per pound, the second lowest such price they had received in the past 10 years. In 2008, when the economy crashed and the statewide fleet landed nearly 70 million pounds, lobstermen on average were paid $2.93, which is the lowest price they have received since 1998.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News