Stonington, Maine - Lobsters are flooding the market here.
A combination of warm weather and good conservation techniques has led to what could end up being a record lobster harvest across Maine waters. The glut is particularly noticeable here in Stonington, a fishing village on an archipelago by the Atlantic Ocean that has more lobster "landings," or catches, than anywhere in the state.
But the bounty has come with a downside for fishermen. A relatively warm winter prompted soft-shell lobsters to appear in June, about a month early, and their abundance turned into an overabundance.
That caused a huge backup in the sea-to-table supply chain. And for the fishermen, the law of supply and demand has forced the price down to a 40-year low.
At one lobster cooperative here, the price that fishermen received for lobster last week fell to $1.35 per pound, down from about $3.80, and in some cases $4, at the same time last year.
http://www.theday.com/article/20120729/NWS13/307299921/1019&town=
A combination of warm weather and good conservation techniques has led to what could end up being a record lobster harvest across Maine waters. The glut is particularly noticeable here in Stonington, a fishing village on an archipelago by the Atlantic Ocean that has more lobster "landings," or catches, than anywhere in the state.
But the bounty has come with a downside for fishermen. A relatively warm winter prompted soft-shell lobsters to appear in June, about a month early, and their abundance turned into an overabundance.
That caused a huge backup in the sea-to-table supply chain. And for the fishermen, the law of supply and demand has forced the price down to a 40-year low.
At one lobster cooperative here, the price that fishermen received for lobster last week fell to $1.35 per pound, down from about $3.80, and in some cases $4, at the same time last year.
http://www.theday.com/article/20120729/NWS13/307299921/1019&town=