February 28, 2024 — Willis Spear stands in the backyard of his Yarmouth, Maine home. Behind him are dozens of yellow and green lobster traps. Spear, 67, spends most of the winter preparing these traps to be deployed in the Gulf of Maine come April. It’s a task this lifelong lobster fisherman has carried out each year since he was a child.
“The water gives us life,” Spear said on an unusually warm winter day in late February.
Over the last decade, lobster fishermen in Maine have faced increasingly stronger financial headwinds — from the price of fuel to the revenue they are receiving for the lobster themselves. The lobster-fishing industry generates hundreds of millions of dollars for Maine’s economy each year.
“It’s been a difficult last couple of years. Some of my friends have dropped out altogether. Prices are going up but lobster prices are stuck at 1970s prices,” Spear said.