Saving Seafood

  • Home
  • News
    • Alerts
    • Conservation & Environment
    • Council Actions
    • Economic Impact
    • Enforcement
    • International & Trade
    • Law
    • Management & Regulation
    • Regulations
    • Nutrition
    • Opinion
    • Other News
    • Safety
    • Science
    • State and Local
  • News by Region
    • New England
    • Mid-Atlantic
    • South Atlantic
    • Gulf of Mexico
    • Pacific
    • North Pacific
    • Western Pacific
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Fishing Terms Glossary

Herring quotaโ€™s sting may lead Maine lobstermen to sit out next spring

September 27, 2018 โ€” At the height of the season, Brooklin lobsterman David Tarr spends $600 to $800 a day to bait his traps with herring, pogies or redfish.

While some Maine lobstermen swear by herring, Tarr is willing to play the field based on price and availability. Unlike most of his peers, Tarr also has the luxury of a personal bait cooler, which allows him to buy bait when the price is right, salt it himself and store up to 200 barrels of it away โ€“ $40,000 of bait, enough for a half-season of fishing โ€“ for use during tough times.

On Wednesday, one day after the New England Fisheriesy Management Council voted to recommend slashing the yearly herring quota by 80 percent, Tarr figured tough times are coming. He plans to spend the spring stocking his bait cooler before the lobster season kicks into high gear and bait prices go up, possibly doubling at the peak of the season.

One thing that Tarr probably wonโ€™t be doing in the spring? Lobstering.

โ€œAt a certain point, it is just not worth it,โ€ Tarr said. โ€œI wonโ€™t go fishing just to pay for my bait.โ€

Every lobsterman will be doing exactly the same math, Tarr said. Theyโ€™ll look at their daily bait bill, and then lobster prices. Then theyโ€™ll figure out how much lobster they would have to catch just to cover their bait bill, and estimate the likelihood of surpassing that threshold. For Tarr, that means he needs to land three crates of lobster โ€“ about 270 pounds โ€“ to cover his daily bait bill alone.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

First half of Maineโ€™s lobstering season โ€˜painfully slowโ€™ for fishermen

Dock prices are also down amid reports of light catches, leaving the industry worried but hoping for a rebound in the next few months.

October 4, 2017 โ€” A cold spring, high bait prices and a stormy summer are adding up to a slow lobstering season in Maine.

Every fisherman and every lobstering port along Maineโ€™s 3,500-mile coastline is different. But as of Oct. 1, the midpoint in the industryโ€™s peak season, most Maine lobstermen and the dealers who buy from them agree the catch is down. They disagree on whether the industry will be able to land enough lobster to recover and keep up with the last few years of record harvests.

Brooklin lobsterman David Tarr, who serves on the state Lobster Advisory Council, predicts his catch will be down about 20 percent this season unless he can pull off a โ€œgreat finish.โ€ The light catch, coupled with a boat price that was 10 percent off for most of the summer, adds up to a substantial loss, he said. But the 48-year-old fisherman isnโ€™t exactly surprised.

โ€œWe have been over the average for many years, so Iโ€™m not really shocked by it,โ€ Tarr said. โ€œIt makes it harder, for sure.โ€

SLOWDOWN AFTER SERIES OF RECORD YEARS

Maine has enjoyed a run of record-setting lobster harvests over the past few years. According to data from 2016, the most recent figures available, Maine fishermen landed more than 130 million pounds of lobster valued at $533.1 million, breaking records for annual catch and industry value. Lobster is the most valuable, and through last year at least, the fastest-growing of all the stateโ€™s commercial fisheries.

Lobstermen will remain busy through November, depending on which region they fish, so itโ€™s too early to tell whether the perceived decline will be reflected in the official 2017 harvest numbers that the state releases in February.

Even so, the Maine Lobstermenโ€™s Association called it a โ€œpainfully slow startโ€ and said the slow pace of landings and the prices that were well below last yearโ€™s had left lobstermen feeling angry, disappointed and worried.

โ€œFortunately, we still have a lot of good fishing months left this year,โ€ association director Patrice McCarron wrote in her September report.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Recent Headlines

  • New York judge sides with Oyster Bay in aquaculture lease renewal decision
  • Bluefin tuna off limits for recreational and charter anglers due to federal shutdown
  • MASSACHUSETTS: Local fishermen vie for title of top scallop shucker. A look at contestโ€™s legacy, past winners
  • Trump delays tariffs on China for another 90 days
  • Are Gulf sharks really an โ€˜overwhelming problemโ€™? Itโ€™s complicated, experts say
  • US judge blocks commercial fishing in Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument
  • NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina Coastal Coalition forms with fishing industry in mind
  • Global Seafood Alliance debuts new BAP salmon farm standard

Most Popular Topics

Alaska Aquaculture ASMFC Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission BOEM California China Climate change Coronavirus COVID-19 Donald Trump groundfish Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Hawaii Illegal fishing IUU fishing Lobster Maine Massachusetts Mid-Atlantic National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NEFMC New Bedford New England New England Fishery Management Council New Jersey New York NMFS NOAA NOAA Fisheries North Atlantic right whales North Carolina North Pacific offshore energy Offshore wind Pacific right whales Salmon South Atlantic Western Pacific Whales wind energy Wind Farms

Daily Updates & Alerts

Enter your email address to receive daily updates and alerts:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Tweets by @savingseafood

Copyright ยฉ 2025 Saving Seafood ยท WordPress Web Design by Jessee Productions

Notifications