F R O M T H E C R O W E ’ S N E S T
Collective Responsibility
All for profit businesses have a financial marker below the cost of production – in the red, insolvency, belly up. All these businesses also experience a range of changes continuously. Few who look closely at social and economic change would disagree that it is more rapid today.
Looking at New England lobster fishing in 1892 there are similarities to today’s industry- small boats, traps, fluctuating prices - but that’s about it. Today’s lobstermen fish one fishery, carry a lot of debt and fish a lot more hours on a lot more days. The opportunity to catch more low priced lobster to feed the family and the bank is better than going belly up. But it is not a sustainable business response to low boat prices.
Telecommunications, evolving Asian markets, fishing technology, global economies, and global warming will make changes in the fishing industry bigger and faster in the future.
Canada, the beneficiary, benefactor or boogeyman, in the eyes of some New England lobstermen, has had these same price problems this season for the largely same reasons – increased lobster recruitment a few years ago and warm water this spring. The former is good, the later is not and neither can be immediately changed.
Canada’s short lobster season ends June 30th. It’s large processing industry depends on Maine’s long season for product. Maine depends on Canada’s huge processing industry to absorb some of it’s catch, particularly the early, fragile shedders.
The Canadian lobster fishery is built around it’s federally funded processing industry and ours is built around the small independent fisherman. We would not likely be fishing shedders as aggressively were there no Canadian demand.
Mother nature and Maine lobstermen’s resource management has been driving the supply side. Change can happen and change can be made to happen. Seeing the northeast from Cape Cod to Cape Breton as one lobster fishery with the same markets and finding a means to better control supply on our end could pull a few wild cards out of the lobster profitability deck.
Future changes in the lobster industry will both be like what we’ve seen as well as the unpredictable. Change cannot be stopped. Some changes will need to be dodged and some others embraced. Learning to know the difference will continue to be the hard work and collective responsibility of the industry.