October 28, 2022 — Jake Smith has been lobstering in Maine since he was 11. Fishing the waters off Blue Hill, he’s run his own boat since 2011 and rebuilt it twice.
But now, Smith, who lives in Surry and turns 31 in December, is fishing for something else: someone to buy the vessel off him.
Facing the prospect of stricter regulations that many fear could choke the state’s largest fishery — plus high fuel costs and bottom of the barrel lobster prices this season — Smith is one of a growing number of Maine lobstermen who are wondering if now is the time to get out of the business.
“It’s pretty grim times,” he said after listing his 34-foot lobster boat on Facebook Marketplace earlier this month. “I hate to give up on it, but I can’t make the money that I used to.”
Many lobstermen are pondering if it’s better to stay the course or if they should sell now while the fishery is still robust and there’s a market for boats, said Virginia Olsen, a leader in the Maine Lobstering Union and a fisherman out of Stonington.