PORTLAND, Maine — Maine lobstermen are hauling in soft-shell lobsters earlier than usual this year in what some say is a result of a mild winter and ocean warming trends.
Soft-shell lobsters usually don’t start showing up in lobster traps until June or early July.
Their early appearance this year could have an economic impact on Maine’s iconic fishery as soft-shells tend to fetch less per pound than hard-shell lobsters because they have less meat. The upside is that their meat tends to be sweeter.
Local retailers started splitting prices — paying lower for soft shells and higher for hard shells — in late April and early May, which is also much earlier than normal.
The lobster fishery is a billion-dollar industry in Maine.
These guys deserve any breaks they can get. With the high gasoline prices and those monthly payments on their expensive boats to meet it must be quite discouraging. I wish them the best because they certainly deserve it. They work so hard and are getting back less and less.
Everything else in America is bass akwards, why not the lobster too.
$3.25 a pound on May 14! $1.25 in September! it a good thing ramen noodles are 12 cents a package!
“The lobster fishery is a billion-dollar industry in Maine”… It’s a good thing someone is making lots of money, because the fisherman aren’t!
Give me a break! They are the biggest bunch of whiners ever! Yeah, they need help with their payments alright..like their new truck every two years, or their half million dollar homes, jet skis, 4 wheelers, I even know some who have their own planes. All you ever hear from the fisherman is how tough they have it, but I’d love to be as poor as most of them.
I’ll hook you up as a stern man hauling traps with someone who fishes way offshore in the winter. It’s really like a pleasure cruise out in huge waves in a snow squall.Perhaps you’ll see a few puffins. See who’s the baby then-maybe you- when you’re puking your guts out.
OMG! I do like that one westshores!
I know a guy who fishes out of Portland. He had a freind who begged him to go out in the winter-way offshore. That happened once. The guy still likes to go out in the summer-you know-drink a few beers-look at the pretty girls on yachts….
You obviously have know idea what you’re talking about. Try walking in a fisherman’s shoes and get back to me. My husband got his lobster license in 2003 and it’s been the biggest struggle of our lives and our marriage. We don’t own our house, we don’t have any jet skis, and we’ve had the same beat up truck for 10 years, not to mention we destroyed our credit. This is a hard and expensive business to get into and those fishermen work really hard to earn their pay – which is more than I can say about a lot of people. In the summer of ’99, gas was 99 cents/gallon and boat price of lobsters was $3.50/pound. Nine years later in the summer of ’08, boat price hit below $2/pound in some areas and fuel was over $4/gallon…do the math.
You must know the 5%….the other 95% are struggling just to stay afloat. The only way to be a lobsterman is to have about $300,000 to invest and stay 15 miles off shore with 800 or more traps……..
sounds like your on the outside looking in! clueless and bitter… if you wanna be poor like most of us, then find a job on a boat! its that simple.
Ok…so you’d like to be a poor fisherman, eh? Then go ahead and buy a lobster boat with a federal permit ($150,000.-250,000.) then traps,rope,tags,bait fuel…..and see how you do…then you’ll be as poor as the “whiners” out there! Oh that’s if you qualify for a loan at the bank! Looser!