Say goodby to the Maine Lobster

[striper101]

paul,
good luck up there I will save a striper or two for ya when you get back I have no idea what to do to get a dealers liscense for seafood but I may look into for the future.

Thanks Kobey! Let me know what info you can get!

I won't be going up that long! I'll be fishing Utsches so either I'll be back before that or leaving after it's over!

[Bluewater Sportfishing]

Thanks Kobey! Let me know what info you can get!

I won't be going up that long! I'll be fishing Utsches so either I'll be back before that or leaving after it's over!

I'm fishing Utches also should be fun as long as a few fish show up.......if you go up after I may put a order in also..lol I would bring a some back now but I dont have a demand or a way to get them back...if I had a demand then I would think of a way tp bring em back alive....mmmmm fresh maine lobster. sad part is I have been here for 4 days now and havnt had a one..lol

[striper101]

I'm fishing Utches also should be fun as long as a few fish show up.......if you go up after I may put a order in also..lol I would bring a some back now but I dont have a demand or a way to get them back...if I had a demand then I would think of a way tp bring em back alive....mmmmm fresh maine lobster. sad part is I have been here for 4 days now and havnt had a one..lol

Kobey,
I'm the same way when I get a chance to get up there! But, I do bring back a couple 400 for everyone to enjoy. The last time I was up was in early Sept and it was just to hot to chance trying to bring them back alive, so we cooked them all up there before we came home! You should see the pictures from that! 4 of us cooking up 600+ Lobsters! WOW!

[Mike Hammer]

Paul if you're making the run or if someone is put me on the list I'll take 50+ of the buggers they would be a welcome addition to the freezer. I'm sure I can find others if this is going to happen.

I might just have to plan a road trip north myself.

Do you have a contact up there, if do go?

[oldmud]

Brian.
with the cost of Bait, Fuel, Boat Payments etc etc I realy dont know how some are gonna make it. And yes your right they need ot catch twice as many to make up for it. Problem is they cant. they still have the same amount of traps in the water, use the same bait, fish the same way as they did the other day. this will pass as demand will grow for lobsters around thanksgiving and Christmas but that wont be enough.
the pounds will make out not the lobstermen. once the tourism picks back up accross the entire U.S.A. then things will start to work out for everyone. Hell you saw it first hand in Catalina.

Don,
I hope all works out for ya in the end. Do you have any groundfishermen your way and if so how are they dealing with whats to come?

Kobey, Of the 11 draggermen i knew of in Mid Coast None, (NONE) are still in business. A couple have gone into the lobster business The family fisherman is in grave danger of becoming Extinct !! The "Save the working waterfront" is a joke !! Lip service only. sorry for the rant, I give up !!

Don

[Caveman Sportfishing]

If you are still going to Maine and can get some back alive I will put in a order also. I did not know how bad things were up there until I read this post by Kobey. It is this way all over for many folks in the "OCEAN" business overall right now from everything I hear recently.

[striper101]

If you are still going to Maine and can get some back alive I will put in a order also. I did not know how bad things were up there until I read this post by Kobey. It is this way all over for many folks in the "OCEAN" business overall right now from everything I hear recently.

John,
I'll see what I can do. We weren't going to try and bring them back alive. We are going to cook them up there and bring them back that way. Plus, what I am doing is pay my buddy up there twice the amout he would normally get if he would get if he sold them to the pound. Then we were going to charge for the gas that it costs us to go up & back. Which comes down to be around $6 to $7 a Lobster. Which is still a great price if you were to buy them down here at the market.

[Caveman Sportfishing]

Let me know and whatever is fair is fair and it sounds like a win win for everyone but most importantly for your freind up in Maine.
Regards
John

[Storm]

I can give you a better idea of the economic crisis the Maine lobster industry is facing from a first hand perspective.

My lobster landings and gross income have remained relatively the same from 2002 - 2007. I typically land between 40,000 and 50,000 lbs. per year.

Between 2002 and 2007 my basic operating costs (bait and fuel) increased by more than $20,000. From 2006 to 2007 my bait and fuel expense increased by $10,000. Diesel fuel at the dock was about $.80 per gallon in 2000 and in the spring of 2008 was approximately $4.50 - an increase of almost 600 percent. Bait price has increased because lobstermen are bearing the burden of increased fuel costs to catch the bait, and increased transportation costs if the bait needs to be trucked.

The increase in fuel and bait expense was bad enough. Here's the kicker. The average price to the boat in Maine for lobster during 2007 was about $4.20. The Portland boat price is currently $2.50. If you take the $1.70lb. price difference and multiply by about 45,000 lbs., you get $76,500.00. Basically, I can expect my gross lobster sales to be worth about $76,500.00 less this year than last year for the same amount of landings. Now add another $20,000 for the increase in operating cost for a total of $96,500. This is how much less I can expect my net earnings to be compared with a typical year. Sadly, my net earnings seldom exceed $45,000. I don't really want to do the math, but it appears I can expect to be about $50,000 in the hole.

To make things even more challenging, the governement decided I need to replace all of my floating groundline this year with sinking groundline in order to save endangered northern right whales. I estimate that the whales have a billion in one chance of getting entangled in my fishing gear. The cost to replace my perfectly good existing groundline is more than $6,000.00. As if that weren't bad enough, the IRS is trying to recoup $8,000 in vehicle expense deduction that I took on my 2005 taxes. Although I only fished 110 days during 2005, the feds feel that I made 300 commuting round trips to and from the wharf. They refuse to allow me any business mileage for any of my trips to and from the wharf - whether or not I was transporting fishing gear (traps, rope, buoys) with my truck. The fact is, I seldom travel to the wharf without fishing gear. I don't have the time or money to make the ten mile trip to the wharf just for the sake of driving to the wharf. Although I was deducting 80% of my truck for business, the feds feel I'm only entitled to a 33% deduction. This doesn't allow me to take advantage of the ACRS deduction which the feds invented as an economic stimulus to spur the economy. Instead, they are penalizing me for taking advantage of the tax incentive that they invented. Stupid me for wasting my money on an essential piece of $30,000 business equipment that I can barely deduct.

Not to whine, but this is a typical example of the challenges that Maine lobstermen are facing and a better example of the raping we are getting from the federal government. Expect your tax dollars to increase when the feds put us all on welfare.

After spending my entire life (since the age of five) engaged in the lobster fishery, my boat is for sale at a sacrifice price. Unfortunately, the market for lobster boats is completely flat.
If I do eventually sell the boat, I can expect to get stuck hard with capital gains taxes - particularly if Obama gets elected.
Until I sell the boat, I can't afford a real job. Maine lobstermen, like myself, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Storm

[striper101]

Let me know and whatever is fair is fair and it sounds like a win win for everyone but most importantly for your freind up in Maine.
Regards
John

Your absolutely right John! That's why I'm making the run up there! It's only to help out my buddy! Otherwise he has to sell to the pound and deal with their prices!