FROM THE CROWE’S NEST

A Wake Up Call

Lobstermen this past season saw low prices for lobster, high prices for fuel, lower landings, and no end in sight. The industry has had a long unprecedented period of growth, that some said couldn’t last, while others saw no reason why it would not.

Any fisherman under 40 will not remember the gas shortage and price spike, general inflation, and unemployment in the 1970’s. It seemed to come out of nowhere and was considered as bad as anything since the Great Depression 40 years earlier.

The down side to the half priced products from Asia is that globalization links us more directly to their economic demands and failures. It has been suggested that the government give fishermen a tax break on fuel. That might help, but not much. Fuel prices would have to be where they were when you could make money from $4.50 a pound lobster, around $1.00. Would the subsidy continue with the inevitable $5, $6 or more a gallon fuel?

In scrambling for traction eco labeling has been proposed. The down side to that one is that the certification comes from way away, corporate Europe. The corporate includes Wal-Mart scale players whose every-day low prices could be leveraged by the threat of de-certification on any number of unknowns.

There is likely no more eco-sound, responsibly managed, clean water, sustainably fished fishery on the plant today, as the Maine lobster fishery. It is the gold standard.
  
Economic downturns leave every industry changed. There will no doubt be a shake out in the lobster industry from this one. The cost of fuel, the price of lobster, and the burden of debt will effect who is still fishing when things stabilize. The who is unknown, what is known is that things will be done differently.
  
Protecting the Gulf of Maine resource so that it remains in tact through the down cycle, when desperation could lead to poor short term decisions. The importance of preventing the herring resource from being shipped out, restoring alewives to the river system, saving ground stocks as a back up to lobster, finding a market for northern shrimp, and getting Maine a fair share of the scallop fishery have all been highlighted by the current cooling of the lobster industry.

The silver lining in this current dark cloud may be the wake up call for a more diverse industry.