September 1, 2017 — As the shedder, or soft shell, season winds down with higher value hard shell lobsters on the horizon, local lobstermen are hoping to turn what has so far been a dismal season around.
Lobsters are in hiding, or so it seems to lobstermen.
“I’d say we’ve caught about half the lobsters [than in recent years],” Stonington lobsterman Tony Bray said of the 2017 season.
The Stonington Lobster Co-op, which buys a large proportion of the local catch, reported a 25 to 30 percent drop in volume over last year.
“The lobsters are out there, so this is not likely reflective of a resource decline,” said Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries scientist Carla Guenther, who follows Department of Marine Resources data monitoring. “It may be reflective of a habitat shift as to where the lobsters are, and a behavior shift as a reaction to the colder water.”
For lobstermen, low volume doesn’t equal higher prices. At the dock, price per pound has dropped about 20 percent, with the Co-op paying $2.65 per pound, compared to $3.25 this time last year.