Lobstering and crabbing in Maine in upper Penobscot Bay.
The above video was taken in Maine in the Penobscot Bay area. It is the person who is pictured below and shows his method of harvesting lobsters.
I put the videos on the site for those that don’t really know what lobstering is about.
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F/V JENNY G
[singlepic id=142 w=320 h=240 float=right]Basically the problem as I see it is not marketing lobster so people will want it, its marketing lobster so people will believe it’s a good value. The hard part is giving consumers a good value and paying fisherman at least a reasonable price for their catch. Last fall consumers got a taste of retail lobster for under $4.00 lb and now they seem to expect it. Whenever the price starts to creep back up retail sales fall back down, which will continue to keep the price low. Because dealers still need to move lobster. The thing is they still want to get there high mark-up on the lobster so it seems their solution is to pay fisherman ridiculously low prices for the catch. It works for the dealers and the consumers but not for the fisherman who are receiving prices that they haven’t seen for decades.
[singlepic id=143 w=320 h=240 float=right]There are not many other industries where the buyer sets the price. So the question is what can be done to make everyone happy? Well, there are a lot of theories out there right now. One that is mentioned is certifying Maine lobster as a “green food” meaning it’s a sustainable resource. I believe that getting the certification will help us overall especially in the larger global market, but I certainly don’t think it will solve all the problems.
[singlepic id=144 w=320 h=240 float=right]In my opinion, I think its great to have a strong global market for lobster, but what we really need is to market it more locally. If we increased processing capacity in Maine and focused a lot on not only marketing lobster to local consumers but local businesses as well (such as restaurants, grocery stores etc.) we would all be better off. The more direct we (the fishermen) can sell our product to the consumer the more money everyone involved will make and the consumer will still get a fair price.
I can’t believe the amount of local supermarkets/business that receive lobster and lobster meat shipped in from Canada, and here we are in Maine “the lobster capital of the world”. Now, the truth is the lobsters the lobsters some of these supermarkets receive could very well be Maine lobsters that were sold to Canada and than sold back to Maine. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. If we processed more lobster in state we would not only get the value added to the lobster but we would create jobs and we the fishermen would be getting a higher price when we sell our catch. Also consumers would be paying less because it goes through fewer hands. We do have some options, and in my opinion marketing more lobster locally is the way to go.
I agree with much of what you say. I do have a feeling that like it or not, we do in fact have a global market. This means we will compete, like it or not, with other countries.
The thing that might really hurt us is that the American Dollar is dropping compared to Canada. If it continues, it wouldn’t surprise me if it goes below the value of Canada’s dollar.
I did talk to a woman that exchanged some American for Canadian and paid more for Canadian. I don’t ever remember this. I do know that in the newspaper, the Canadian dollar is very close to the American dollar. Possibly a few pennies off. Evidently the bank had some fee for exchanging the money making it necessary for the woman to actually pay more for it.
Presently the idea of anything “green” scares me, in that I hear nothing that doesn’t mean great sacrifices to pay for going green. I won’t go into that because I really don’t know enough about it.
I would like to see how others feel, but getting someone to make a comment on a site like this is next to impossible.
I guess you recognize the pictures you sent me. I found those and the article and republished it.