O P I N I O N
A Better Live Lobster
I have been reading a number of your very good lobster industry articles over the past few months and been very frustrated about the discussions and approaches on how to raise the value (boat price) of the lobster for the fishermen. Your recent September and October articles finally got me out my chair.
I believe the value of live lobsters cannot be fundamentally changed by legislation, taxes or marketing. The “fundamentals” can only be changed by the fishermen. As someone that has spent the last twenty-four years trying to effect change in this industry, I can tell you it’s not easy and not always pleasant. However to preserve this beautiful industry we need to be innovative and adjust as technologies are developed and introduced. We have already seen how fishermen and scientists have worked together to successfully improve the sustainability of our precious resource. Now the time has come to improve our post catch market value.
In your September Crowe’s nest editorial you close with “…what can the fishermen do until the world comes knocking…”. The fact is the world is knocking, but the fastest growing and highest price markets are only knocking on the Canadians’ doors. The world is looking for lobsters that all arrive alive and have a long shelf life. The Canadian lobster meets their needs. Mr. Hathaway describes the “imposter” lobster in your October article on Processing as weakening the Maine brand. The real reason worldwide shippers rename the lobsters’ origin is not to hijack a brand; it’s to mask the unfavorable source. “Branding” a Maine lobster for export in this current situation is a double edged sword. It is the last thing you want to do. The Maine lobster can satisfy foreign importers’ needs if they are handled properly from boat to plate. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Maine lobsters are caught and shipped when they are most vulnerable. Approximately 20% of the lobsters caught in Maine will die before they reach the ultimate consumer.
The current live lobster infrastructure has lobsters being moved from fishermen to dock buyers to multiple distributors in New England to multiple distributors in remote countries to processors or retailers and ultimately to the consumer. At each stage they will be handled differently and at some time during each of the steps in the distribution chain the lobsters are intentionally held longer for market speculation. The process takes weeks and as you mention “…the handling was easier on the lobster when it went to Boston in the cold, wet hold of a lobster smack in the 1860’s”.
In the past 150 years we have incorporated jet planes, chilled water, bio-filtration, plastic crates and insulated shipping boxes, but the “handling” methods have not changed. To be valuable, this very vulnerable product needs greater care on the boat and at all points of the chain. The ultimate health of the lobster starts with the fishermen, if the fishermen do not improve their hauling and onboard holding systems, no downstream technologies will improve the lobsters’ health. The technologies and systems are available, but the fishermen have no incentive to spend time and money for improvements that don’t increase the money in their pockets. When I describe to them how they can improve quality and the changes they should make, their first response to me is what’s in it for me?
Today there is no incentive for the fishermen to add value to their catch. The definition of live lobster has not changed since 1860. If it moves it’s “live”. Currently the fishermen drop their lobster crates on the dock and get paid his market price with no consideration as to how they were held for market speculation or handled onboard, how long they soaked, how long they were floating on his mooring. They just need to be alive. The shore side buyer flips the crate for fifty cents a pound for anything that’s alive. The wholesalers have no idea who the fishermen were or how long they floated in the shallow hot or freezing water along the buyers’ docks.
All these activities add invisible stress to lobsters and shorten their lives. The vulnerable stage that most of the summer Maine lobsters are caught in makes them more susceptible to stress. The New England wholesalers who get stuck with the really weak lobsters sell to the processors where the excessive stress level will directly and negatively affect the lobster meat yield. Reducing stress on the lobster will make the Maine lobster more acceptable in high margin markets. Higher live market demand leads to higher prices. David Basti, et al, at the University of Maine describes factors that affect the stress on lobsters titled “Factors Affecting the Post-Capture Survivability of Lobster Homarus Americanus”. It should be read by everyone in the lobster industry. (Find a link to this article at:fshermensvoice.com)
Fishermen 150 years ago were less aware of what was going on outside their harbor or village. They had no idea what was going on in the distant markets. They fished hard and smart and left their fate to the buyer at the dock. Today, in this era of global communication, all fishermen are equipped to communicate anywhere in the word, directly from their boat. There is no excuse for fishermen not getting involved in controlling their own destiny. If fishermen want higher prices they need to get directly involved with what is happening on the other side of the dock. Live Maine lobsters have a poor quality image throughout Europe and Asia. Any work the fishermen put into improving the handling from the trap to the plate will ultimately improve the appeal of Maine lobster in the world’s fastest growing live markets and ultimately the boat prices.
Fishermen Wake Up! If you want to preserve the lobster fishing industry for your Grand Children and Great Grandchildren you need to stop doing business the same way as your Grandfather, Great Grandfather and Great Great Grandfather.
Fishermen have done an excellent job of protecting and improving the resource for future generations up to the point of the trap. The only way they can insure the future profitability is to get vertically involved into the lobster distribution chain from the trap to the plate.
The relationship between fishermen and processors has always been a love/hate situation. Like everything else in business, it changes with price. Only about 20% of the Maine lobster catch goes to live markets and this small percentage controls the boat price. If you want an idea of what the boat price would be without the live market just look at what happened a couple of months ago. When the “live market” demand is down the price follows. Live market expansion is the only way lobstermen can get higher prices.
There have been a lot of discussions and articles describing how expanding Maine’s processing capacity to process the local catch, currently being exported to Canada, will raise the boat price. While it may help the local economy, it will not raise the boat price. It may even lower boat prices if the Canadian processors are put out of business. Processing is a very low margin business and the processors in Canada are not making the profits some people are implying.
In your October article titled “Future Price of Lobster Seen in Sustainability, Value Added, Marketing” it is accurately mentioned that only 25% of the processed lobster will actually be “food”. This is precisely the reason that processors make such small margins. Think about it, if the filleting yield for Haddock or Cod fish was 25% the boat price would less than $1/pound and Pollack would be thrown away. To believe that adding value to the 25% will offset the 75% waste is irrational, especially when you consider that Wal-Mart and other supermarkets will place this “high value” 25% on the frozen food shelf right beside the Thai and Lump Crab meat, Chilean Crawfish and the Chinese shrimp.
I read about all the monies (derived from the lobstermen and taxpayers) proposed for marketing and processing. Before you market something you need to make sure you have a product with consistent quality. Before you spend millions on processing you should maximize as much of the live catch market as possible.
I have performed tests showing that lobsters picked up directly from the fishing boat and processed within 12 hours can improve the yield by 2%. It may not sound like a big number, but if you consider the yield is currently only 25%, that’s an 8% increase in yield and the difference between a profit and a loss or fifty cents on the boat price. What would happen to the boat price if the processing yield could be increased from 25% to 40%?
If fishermen improved the onboard handling process and worked “directly” together with processors it would improve and ultimately strengthen the entire industry. The lobstermen need to segregate the lobsters onboard into two or three categories; shippable, pound able and processing. Some say a fisherman grading lobsters is like the fox guarding the hen house. I’m sure this industry shift will sound crazy, but the alternative is a slow death. The Maine Lobster is what it is, what are you going to do to maximize its value and thus boat price?
The Maine pounding segment of the lobster industry is dying. Maine’s current pounding industry still relies on the same pounding methods used 150 years ago. Millions of dollars of Lobsters are still corralled into fenced coves for up to six months. The pound keepers put them on the bottom not to be seen again for six months (except for periodic samplings and if there is no ice). He’s making a high stakes bet on how the severe and unpredictable the weather will be and how it will affect water temperatures and predators. With today’s technologies in aquaculture there is no need for anyone to take these uncontrollable risky positions.
In the past Canada had the advantage of a stronger lobster, but the disadvantage of having the supply available for only six months during winter and spring. It dovetailed and complimented the timing of the Maine summer and fall catches. Every winter the Canadians would need to fight to reestablish their customers. In the past 12 years they have developed and perfected the dry land pounding techniques to the point that they can successfully store lobsters long enough to supply Canadian lobsters almost the entire year (squeezing Maine out of the summer exporting business). They now control the Northern Europe and Asian markets all year, except for a few “imposter” lobsters that are snuck in. The Canadians solved the problem by pounding the lobsters indoors with controlled water temperature, eliminating the unknown weather risks and the ability to visibly sample their entire inventory in a controlled manner. In addition, the lobsters are shipped looking clean as fresh caught as compared to the dirty algae and seaweed covered lobsters harvested from the Maine tidal pounds.
In all the funding discussions I have read, I have not seen any funding discussed for pounding technologies. We have the people and pound owners with the knowledge, will and desire to improve, but they don’t have the funding. The industry needs funding to improve long term pounding, but even more important there needs to be economical holding systems developed to store and feed soft shell lobsters to increase meat yield and harden the shells during the summer months. This would improve our market perception and make the soft shells more valuable for fishermen that can eliminate the catching stress.
Many of the world’s renowned lobster and aquaculture scientists are at the University of Maine. They have done a lot of the work. They have a lot of great ideas on what can be done. What they do not have is the money and government support needed to turn their ideas into a commercial value for the fishermen. Put the money up at the front of the process where it will help. You should make and taste the soup before you decide to tell the world how great it is.
Put the fishermen’s money where it will help them the most.
Funding should be made available to:
1. Have scientists measure the handling stresses and use it as a tool to design better methods to:
a. Improve long distance shipping quality and shelf life
b. Improve processing yields.
2. Provide working capital, dock space, holding systems and marketing assistance for groups of fishermen to hold and care for their onboard graded lobsters until picked up by wholesalers, pounds and processors.
3. Build on what the Canadians developed and customize low cost efficient long term dry land holding systems for the characteristic of the Maine lobster.
4. Use aquaculture technologies and feeds to harden the shell and increase meat content of Maine lobsters.
Develop high value products using the 75% processing waste.
The above steps will improve quality, yield, provide product traceability (aka Chain of Custody), provide a foundation the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification and demonstrate the humane treatment of the animals.
Market the above when proven.
Maine Lobster fishermen, you have given the helm of your future to the politicians, consultants and self-serving shore side interests while you sit on the stern waiting for them to drive you to the land of plenty. Look at how well that worked for the groundfish fishermen.
Get on the other side of the dock and TAKE CONTROL!
Leo LaRosa
Rose Seafood Industries, Inc.
leo@lobsterhealth.com