Martha’s Vineyard lobsters are scarce. More lobsters are landed by the Steamship Authority ferry Island Home from afar than by local lobstermen, and the prognosis is not good for the future for the whole region. From Chatham to as far south as North Carolina, the lobster fishery is in trouble.
The seafood consumer doesn’t have to worry. Lobsters are alive and well in local fish markets, because they come from up north.
The biggest hardship is being felt by lobstermen in Menemsha, where already they are facing rising costs for fuel and a cheap price for what they harvest. Their lobsters don’t even look as good as the ones from Canada. Difficult economic times for consumers worldwide, and an abundance of lobsters from the north, have pulled the value out of a fresh lobster landed at the Vineyard dock. Meanwhile Island fishermen have been hit by restrictions as part a regionwide effort to save the fishery.
“It has been a struggle,” said Chris Stien, of West Tisbury, who fishes out of Menemsha. “It is pretty much collapsed, and it has been going on about a decade.”