Say goodby to the Maine Lobster

[Shortfin]

Drove up to Maine last weekend with the family to show my sons g friend from N Carolina what Maine was like and get a few Lobsters. The Mooring balls were all full with Lobster boats, probably because it was a weekend, made me think of there plight and how those mooring balls could be full of searay's in a few years

any way’s the Lobster were delicious and by no means were the prices reflective on the down wholesale price ,,we down right paid retail price like it was last year ?

Realizing restaurants on the water have huge overhead we enjoyed every minute of it

[John from Madison CT]

They catch too few lobsters and we blame it on Global Warming. They catch too many lobsters and they complain that the wholesale price is too low, although they get what the market will bear.

All I hear about the lobster industry is complaints. Like those in many other industries, IT, Auto's, Construction, etc etc......there comes a time when you have to adapt and do something else to hustle a buck. It's the way of the world.

[Storm]

They catch too few lobsters and we blame it on Global Warming. They catch too many lobsters and they complain that the wholesale price is too low, although they get what the market will bear.

All I hear about the lobster industry is complaints. Like those in many other industries, IT, Auto's, Construction, etc etc......there comes a time when you have to adapt and do something else to hustle a buck. It's the way of the world.

Like everyone else, Maine lobstermen are victims of the economy.

Let me tell you about my situation as a Maine lobsterman for the last thirtyish years. Compared against 2005, my 2008 income was off by $80,000. My fuel expense alone increased by more than $8,000. My bait expense increased, but I haven't crunched the figures yet. Overall, I estimate my decrease in net income will approach about $100,000 or $8,000 per month. My lobster landings, however, didn't change a whole lot compared with prior effort. Except for the increase in operating cost (about 500% since 2000), this all happened in the last quarter of this year. It's a staggering amount for me. And yes, I've tried to adapt and find another job. I've also had my boat listed for the past year. It's hard to walk away from a $1,300 a month boat payment, boat insurance expense, berthing expense, vehicle expense, income tax liability, debt service in the form of credit cards, mortgage or rent payments, cost of living expense, and all other accrued debt that needs to be satisfied. Particularly, when you have about ninety percent equity in your boat. You really don't want the bank to take your boat and the bank doesn't want it. Most lobstermen also bear the cost of retirement income and health insurance. Health insurance for fishermen is expensive, because commercial fishing is considered to be near the top of the list, in terms of risk.

Adapting, when you've done the same thing for your entire life and have few other skills, isn't as easy as you make it appear. Finally, this has nothing to do with catching too many lobsters. Our Canadian markets crashed because they were financed by the Bank of Iceland and the entire country of Iceland went bankrupt. The local market was already soft because of the weakening economy. Restaurants stopped buying and local retailers were flooded. Suddenly Houston, we have a problem on our hands. If all you hear is complaints, that's because there isn't a whole lot of good news to report. Although, the lobster price took a big spike last week and the price of diesel fuel has come down from a high of about $4.50 last spring to about $1.70.

If you have some real suggestions on how to adapt, I know about 12,000 individuals like me that would be more than happy to listen. Storm

[Bigeye10]

I just read in the globe that Maine Lobster was back up $5 bucks a pound

[Storm]

I just read in the globe that Maine Lobster was back up $5 bucks a pound

Some of the guys are getting $5 from the local dealers. I got $4.25 this week compared to $6 at the same time last year. A week ago we were getting $2.75 compared to $6.

I suspect all the dealers will be at $5 soon. Retail price jumped this week from about $3.99 to about $7 in the supermarkets. Local retailers had unusually high holiday sales due to the low prices. Storm

[progress2000]

Wake up and smell the sea air. If we do not control fishing and lobstering there will be an empty sea.

[boatbugs]

lobster prices never recovered from 911. Everyone else recovered but the lobster industry. The government should look into this and find out why.

[F.stop]

for years noew the us goverment has done the small commercial fishermen wong and in recent years has start t do the same with recreational fishermen. we see this with many small business and there struggle in todays ecomomy.

in my opion americans have got to get off are buts be proactive and let washington here are voice.....for they are not supprting needsof the working u.s. tax payer. in short the u.s. goverment has become to big, to strong, and thus arragant to it's own peoples needs (the current administration is only going to make this worse as they what to give it all away to those who don't even work) the giverment wants to control everything in cluding the seafood industry....giving them total control on all Fishing! are forfathers would be ashamed.(most of the worlds fishing fleets are owned by goverment to some level......the u.s. fishermen by in large are family owned or independently owned small bussiness.

the only thing we can do is to ban or (put tariffs on foriegn fish!)....if the u.s. goverment will not do this....we the u.s. citizens need to!

kobey thanks for bring this to light.........let get off are ass america and realise what made this country great... independents!

[Capt Lindsay]

So why not rig some refrigerated trucks with live wells and send them to various spots around the Mid-Atlantic? Even with transport expenses, the retail price from the truck shouldn't be more than $3.50 or $4.00 per pound.

If I had access to that, I would be a customer each week. Save me 4 - 2 pounders each week.

Customers don't come to you. You have to go to where the customers are.

You could also sell "subscriptions" where customers for a pre-set order, including restaurants, pay a set fee charged to their credit card for the same order each week or two week periods.

[boatbugs]

price is dropping like a lead ballon for lobster. I wonder if the middle men will pass the huge savings on the the consumer?

anyone within a 100 miles of lobster territory should be able to buy live lobster for less than 3.99 a lb!