Maine Lobster Processors Optimistic
The flood of lobster onto the market and the collapse of prices this past June was a wake up call, said Pete Daley, the facility manager at Garbo Lobster in Hancock, Maine. Garbo Lobster and East Coast Seafood bought the lobster processing plant at Prospect Harbor in a September auction.
The Prospect Harbor plant is the former Stinson’s Sardine cannery. In 2008, the Stinson property was bought by Live Lobster of Chelsea, MA, converted to a lobster processing plant, and subsequently closed in early 2012 when the company went into receivership.
The companies, Garbo Lobster and East Coast Seafoods, two of the top lobster companies in the world, are forming a joint venture to process Maine lobster. Dave Garbo, president and CEO of Garbo Lobster and Mike Tourkistas, President and CEO of East Coast Seafoods are fully committed to this venture, said Daley. They plan to capitalize on the branding of Maine lobster under a name yet to be determined.
The facility will employ about 100 people. It is expected to be a major facility with no corners cut. “It will have nothing to do with our live lobster operations. It will be a full time processing facility”, said Daley. East Coast Seafood, based in Lynn, Mass, already has processing experience and markets in place.
Daley said, “What occurred in June of 2012, low prices, high volumes and the blockade at the Canadian border meant there was no place to go with Maine lobster. We don’t want to confront that again. I think we can be a stabilizing force when and if that should happen again.” The company will be focused on value added product with Prospect Harbor and Maine as an identifying factor in the branding. Daley estimated they would be processing 4 to 5 million pounds of lobster annually.
He went on to say that the company will be in a good location with lots of product coming from neighboring counties. He described both companies as the best in the business with 25+ years experience each, financially sound and at the top of their game.
“We are very pleased about buying the facility”, said Daley, and now we want to work with people in the industry and with federal and state representatives to build out the development plan.” Daley said Maine already has a few good processing companies, such as Cozy Harbor and Shucks Maine Lobster. This project, he said, requires serious time, effort and capital in order for it to go forward and be successful. Just because it was not done right the first time at Live Lobster doesn’t mean it can’t be right this time, said Daley. “The project requires a lot of resources and expertise and both of these companies have that,” said Daley.
The joint venture expects to begin operations in the spring/summer of 2013. They will be processing a range of seafoods starting with lobster. They want to work toward a year round operation beginning with lobsters, then possibly add shrimp, scallops, crabs, finfish, etc.
“We think there needs to be a tremendous amount of local involvement which includes the people who will work there and the people we buy from. The work force in the local area wants to work, said Daley. Daley grew up in neighboring South Gouldsboro and has been in the lobster business for 20 years.