Landings, Price Perplex Lobstermen

By any estimate, the 2017 lobster season in Maine has been a weird one. On the one hand, lobster landings appear to be down compared to previous years. With volume down, one would think that the price paid to lobstermen would rise. Instead, the price this year has been lower than in the past. According to reports from many lobstermen, the price is lower than at any time in the past ten years. “This year we’re having is one of the worst we’ve had” in recent memory, David Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said. Last year was a particularly warm year, both in terms of air and water temperature, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Lobster landings in 2016 were a record high, topping 130 million pounds at an average value of $4.07 per pound. Early estimates suggest that this year’s landings will be down. Yet despite a drop in landings, the price remains low as well. Lobstermen report that they have consistently been paid less for their lobsters when compared to the same time last year. In addition, the price of diesel fuel has risen this year as has the price of bait.

A brief survey of the MLA’s board of directors reflects Maine lobstermen’s unhappiness with the season so far. Among the 23 lobstermen surveyed on their impressions of the season from January through September, three said that their landings were on par with last year; eight were down 20% or less; four were down approximately 25%, four were down around 30%, four were down 40% or more, and two reported that their harbors were split, with some boats seeing landings similar to last year’s while other lobstermen were down quite a bit. Each member of the board reported that earnings were down due to a lower boat price. Many who said they were having a decent 2017 season credit it to a strong winter and spring fishery.

Industry experts have posited that several economic factors have played into the poor price paid for scarcer Maine lobster. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) went into effect in September. CETA immediately removed the 8% tariff on live Canadian lobster shipped to France, Spain, Italy and other EU countries. Thus Maine lobster immediately became 8% more costly than Canadian lobster. The huge 2016 lobster harvest in both Maine and Canada also allowed many processors to go into the 2017 year with stored inventory. This year the harvest started out strong in Canada, making processors worried that they might not have the capacity to hold even more lobsters as the season continued.

Environmental changes in the Gulf of Maine likely have influenced this year’s season as well. Kathleen Reardon, Department of Marine Resources lobster biologist, notes that 2017 should not be compared to 2016 in terms of the marine environment. “By looking at the NERACOOS buoys for water temperature at depth along the coast, we know that last year had warmer-than-normal temperatures while this year the temperatures through the summer months were more average when compared to a 15-year time series,” she explained via email. “The temperatures this summer look more like the seasonal temperature patterns of 2014 and 2015 while last year was more like 2012. The fall temperatures for the past three years have all been warmer than normal while the winter months have been variable, so we are unsure what this fall will bring. In the meantime, our sampling programs continue to see high numbers of juvenile lobsters in traps, though we don’t have the final numbers yet to compare the 2017 catch trend to previous years.”

The final tallies for the 2017 lobster season won’t be revealed until late February, 2018, but to judge from anecdotal evidence, for most Maine lobstermen this won’t be a year to celebrate.