July 5, 2013 — Lobster season appears to be back to normal this year. And normal is good.
From lobstermen to dealers to processors, the industry is relieved to see a return to routine lobster harvesting after last year, when a glut in the market produced the lowest wholesale prices in a generation and triggered protests against Canadian processors who imported lower-priced Maine lobster.
"During the last three or four days, volume has been picking up. It's more typical of a regular season," said Kyle Murdock, president and chief executive of processor Sea Hag Seafood Inc. in Tenants Harbor. "Last year was very early. It's a good thing that it's more normal this year. Last year's glut definitely put us in a hairy position."
Last year, Maine lobstermen hauled a record 123 million pounds of lobster, up 18 percent from the year before. The total value of the catch, however, dropped 1.1 percent to $331 million. The average price per pound was $2.69, down from $3.19 a pound in 2011, according to the state's Department of Marine Resources.
Shedders, or softshell lobster, have begun appearing in southern Maine and the midcoast regions and are expected to appear Down East in the coming weeks, lobstermen and dealers said.
John Ready, who co-owns Ready Seafood in Portland, said that having shedders appear more slowly along different parts of the coast — rather than all at once throughout the entire coast — helps the industry more efficiently absorb the harvest over time instead of having to handle it all at once, which results in a crash in prices.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald