Maine Lobstermen's Association Archives - Page 15 of 15

What’s on a real roll? Demand for the Maine lobster

November 25, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The demand for lobster is on a roll — often literally. And that is helping to keep the price that Maine lobstermen are getting for their catch near historic highs.

The annual per-pound price first rose above $4 in 2004 and stayed there through 2007, then fell sharply during the recession. In 2015, annual price paid to Maine lobstermen reached $4.09 a pound, the first time it had topped the $4 mark since 2007.

This year, dockside prices for lobster have been close to or above the $4 level throughout the summer and fall, when most lobster is caught and prices usually dip to reflect the ample supply.

The demand for lobster has been buoyed, in part, by the number of casual restaurants that now include it on their menus and by the growing popularity of lobster rolls sold from roadside food trucks, according lobster industry officials.

“No question, more people are offering lobster up and down the [restaurant] hierarchy,” Matt Jacobson, head of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, said. “More awareness and more vendors is great, and drives demand.”

Among the eateries boosting demand for lobster rolls are the Luke’s Lobster chain of restaurants, franchised food trucks, such as Cousins Maine Lobster, and even McDonald’s, which has served lobster rolls at its New England locations the past two summers.

Jim Dow of Bar Harbor, vice president of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said that, despite the mild weather last winter and warmer-than-usual water in the Gulf of Maine this past spring, there was not a repeat of the glut of new-shell lobster that in 2012 sent prices plummeting to their lowest point in decades.

“We did not get a big burst when the shedders first started” in early summer, Dow said. “They came in, but it was short-lived.”

Dow, who fishes out of Bass Harbor on Mount Desert Island, said that while fisherman in that area have been getting around $4 to $4.50 per pound this fall, the price of bait has been much higher than last year. This year he is paying $45 to $50 per bushel of herring, compared with $25 a year ago.

“Our bait price doubled,” Dow said, adding that fuel prices have stayed relatively low.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said recently that the increase in bait costs could mean that many lobsterman earn less money this year even if their gross revenues rise.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: Shortage of herring used for lobster bait sparks run on pogies

August 9, 2016 — In the midst of a bait shortage, Maine has closed down the fishery for lobstermen’s second-favorite type of bait after fishermen exceeded the state’s quota on pogies for the first time.

Despite anecdotal reports of strong lobster landings and prices this season, lobstermen have been struggling to find suitable bait to fill the bags used to lure lobster into their traps.

The offshore supply of fresh Atlantic herring, the go-to bait for most Maine lobstermen, has been in short supply, driving prices up as much 30 percent in late July, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association said. The shortage triggered near-shore fishing restrictions to try to stretch out the summer herring catch in hopes of keeping bait bags full as Maine’s lobster season hits its peak.

With herring getting scarce and expensive, fishermen have turned to other bait for relief, especially the pogie, the local name for Atlantic menhaden. It’s the No. 2 bait fish among Maine lobstermen, according to a state Department of Marine Resources survey.

Maine fishermen have never landed the state’s entire pogie quota, which is set at about 166,000 pounds annually. But this year they had caught all of that and a bit more by July 31, said Megan Ware, head of the menhaden program for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees the pogie catch and other migratory fisheries on the East Coast.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald

Lobster veterinarian says gentler treatment of catch translates to bigger paycheck

April 19, 2016 — Jean Lavallée said he once watched a Canadian lobsterman overstuff a crate with lobsters, put the wooden lid on top and then smash it down with his foot.

The resulting crunch of limbs and shells “sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies,” he told a group of Maine lobstermen in Bath on Monday. Not only did the carelessness cause needless death and injury, Lavallée said, it also undoubtedly cost the lobsterman some money.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

Lavallée, a veterinarian from Prince Edward Island who has specialized in lobsters for more than 20 years, is traveling along the Maine coast this week to lead a series of workshops on proper care and handling of the lucrative crustaceans. The workshops are sponsored by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance with funding from the Island Institute.

Lavallée said as many as 10 percent of the lobsters harvested in the U.S. die on their way to market. Given Maine’s $616.5 million harvest in 2015, that’s up to $61.7 million in lost revenue for the state’s top fishery.

“We kill more lobsters (prematurely) than most other countries are fishing for their entire year,” he said of the U.S. lobster industry. “That’s a lot of lobsters.”

Lavallée argues that more careful handling of lobsters, based on a better understanding of their anatomy and biology, will reduce losses and save the industry millions of dollars.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Marine Patrol Officer Jeff Turcotte Receives Maine Lobstermen’s Association Marine Patrol Officer of the Year Award

March 6, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Marine Patrol Officer Jeff Turcotte, who serves in the Southwest Harbor Patrol, receives the 2016 Maine Lobstermen’s Association Maine Patrol Officer of the Year Award. The award, presented Saturday night at the Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport, is an annual recognition of Marine Patrol Officers who provide outstanding service in support of the Maine lobster industry.

Pictured with MPO Turcotte is MLA Board President David Cousens (left), MLA Executive Director Patrice McCarron (2nd from left) and Marine Patrol Colonel Jon Cornish (right).

MAINE: Lawmakers endorse stripped-down version of lobster license changes

AUGUSTA, Maine — February 25, 2016 — Lawmakers on the committee that handles marine resources issues voted Wednesday to make modest changes in the rules that control lobster fishing licenses in Maine, side-stepping a more controversial proposal for access to Maine’s most lucrative fishery.

Members of the Marine Resources Committee voted 11-1 to increase the age for young people to finish a required apprenticeship program, and to take steps to verify the validity of hundreds of names on a license waiting list. The action was a compromise between attempts by the Department of Marine Resources to trim the waiting list without hurting the resource and resistance from established lobstermen, who were opposed to what they saw as a loss of control and the potential for overfishing.

“It’s not a giant change,” said Patrick Keliher, the marine resources commissioner, “but it will redefine the list and make it smaller.”

A spokesman for many fishermen, however, said he would have been happier if nothing was changed.

“It could have been worse,” said David Cousins, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Interest by the state in reforming the licensing process has been building for years, but has repeatedly failed under pressure from the industry. The department’s initial proposal was crafted after four bills that dealt with license changes were killed in the last legislative session.

Read the full story from Portland Press Herald

MAINE: Lobster licensing bill runs into concerns about pressure on the fishery

February 17, 2016 — AUGUSTA — An effort to reduce waiting lists for entry into the $457 million lobster fishery is running into concerns that a proposal to create a new class of license would put more pressure on a lobster population that the industry and regulators agree is already “fully exploited.”

The proposal, drafted by the Department of Marine Resources, is designed to reduce the nearly 300-person waiting list, which was established 16 years ago after regulators began limiting entry into a fishery with a long tradition of local control and industry-led conservation efforts. The bill would create a new, limited lobster and crab fishing license for a reduced number of traps; increase the age from 18 to 23 before someone who has gone through the industry’s apprenticeship program is put on a waiting list; and remove special fees for applicants age 70 or older, among other provisions.

But several members of the Legislature’s Committee on Marine Resources are skeptical of the proposal because of its relatively modest impact on reducing the waiting list and the unforeseen consequences it could have on a fishery that has posted record landings for reasons that are not fully understood. The wariness is shared by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the leading trade group representing the industry, as well as the Maine Lobstering Union, a recently formed labor union. Roughly 123 million pounds of lobster were landed in 2014, with the value of the catch at nearly $457 million, a record. Regulators and the industry do not believe that those landings will continue.

Carl Wilson, director of the Bureau of Marine Science and the state’s leading lobster biologist, told legislators Wednesday that the proposal likely wouldn’t have a “huge negative impact” on the fishery. He said the effect would probably be the equivalent of the unreported landings of lobster that are cash sales.

However, Wilson also acknowledged that there are some “troubling” indicators that the industry could be headed for a downturn. The indicators are different from the ones that appeared before the collapse of the fishery in southern New England.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

Maine lobster industry wary as warm waters suggest repeat of disastrous 2012 season

February 4, 2016 — For those in the lobster industry, any sign of a return to the conditions of 2012 is cause for high anxiety.

Researchers say the industry needs to be prepared for that possibility because warming trends are laying the groundwork for a potential repeat of the disastrous season of four years ago.

“We learned a hard lesson in 2012,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Because of warm waters in the Gulf of Maine, peak harvesting started in May that year, weeks ahead of schedule. The catch jumped more than 20 percent, from 104 million pounds in 2011 to 127 million pounds in 2012. The shedding season, when lobsters lose their hard shells and grow new ones, typically happens in June and results in soft-shelled lobsters that are difficult to transport. In 2012, shedding began almost as soon as the lobstermen started pulling in traps, and extended into the fall.

As a result, prices paid to lobstermen fell to as low as $2 a pound.

Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, said Thursday that the stage is set for a possible repeat of 2012, at least weather-wise.

Pershing said five buoys that measure water temperatures around the gulf are all running above average, and three are at record highs.

“The average surface temperature across the entire Gulf of Maine is now slightly warmer than during the 2012 ocean heat wave,” Pershing said.

Read the full story at Portland Press Herald

New England Lobstermen Still Fishing Thanks to Mild Winter

December 28, 2015 (AP) — Many New England lobstermen are still fishing deep into December this year because of unseasonably warm weather and an abundance of the critters, and Maine’s beloved scallops are a little harder to come by as a result.

The extra fishing hasn’t done much to change the price of lobsters, which are selling in the range of $8 to $10 per pound in Maine, typical for this time of year, when Canada is also hauling in large catches. But some lobstermen in Maine, the biggest lobster-producing state, also fish for scallops and haven’t made the transition to the winter scalloping season because lobster fishing is still strong.

As a result, Maine scallops — which usually cost about $20 per pound — have been slightly more expensive, sometimes selling in the $25-per-pound range, and some retailers are low on supply. Alex Todd, a Portland scallop and lobster fisherman, said he expects scallop fishing in the southern part of the state to pick up in mid-January. Supply from scallop-rich Cobscook Bay is helping feed demand for now, he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News