July 13, 2012 — A recent glut of soft-shell lobsters in Maine has forced fishermen there off the water for a week, but Jersey Shore seafood dealers say there won’t be a shortage of lobsters here. Consumers can even expect some deals on the sweeter-tasting soft-shell lobsters.
Lobsters — a staple of the Maine fishing industry — surprised fishermen by shedding their shells, a process known as molting, earlier this year than expected.
The result was a flood in their local market, with a crustacean that has a lesser monetary value and shorter shelf life than the hard-shell lobsters.
“A soft-shell lobster has a much lower meat yield than a hard shell,” said Robert C. Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute in Maine, who disputes reports that off-the-boat prices dropped as low as $1.50 per pound.
“I don’t know who the source was in those reports, but I don’t think that price is right. I think the average price is closer to $2.50 a pound,” Bayer said.
Dick Douty of Douty Brothers Inc in Portland, Maine — who supplies his brother Doug at Lusty Lobster in Atlantic Highlands — attributes the early shedding to a warmer-than-usual spring. Douty said the problem with so many soft-shell lobsters is that the Maine market can’t handle them right now.
“Most of them are too soft to ship; they won’t survive overnight. And because there’s so many of them, the local markets can’t handle them all,” Douty said.
He said the prices he’s seeing for lobsters off the boat in Maine is about $2.35 per pound.
He expects the fishery to bounce back, however, after the week off from fishing.
Plus, he said, there are still hard-shell lobsters in Maine that haven’t molted yet, and hard-shells out of Canada.
Read the full story in the Asbury Park Press