SavingSeaFood - Lobstermen face an uncertain season

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Lobstermen face an uncertain season

Maine lobstermen are facing a season of uncertainty despite a record catch last year.

Soaring oil prices are pushing up the cost of diesel fuel. The supply of affordable bait remains unpredictable. And it is not yet clear whether the global appetite for Maine's signature seafood has returned to pre-recession levels.

"This will be an interesting year to watch," said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association.

Lobster is by far Maine's most valuable fishery. Last year the state's 4,292 active lobstermen hauled 93.3 million pounds of lobster valued at $309 million. The industry supports thousands of other jobs as crew members and at associated businesses such as lobster dealers, restaurants, processing plants, bait companies, restaurants and boat yards.

But Maine lobstermen's profits have headed downward ever since. A study by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute concluded that by 2005, returns above operating costs for lobstermen averaged 33 percent -- compared to 49 percent in 1993. Since then, the financial picture for lobstermen has only gotten worse, said Eric Thunberg, an economist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the complete story from The Kennebec Journal.

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