On Lobster Cuts &
Mother Nature
by Sandra Dinsmore
Stonington, Maine. DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher, standing, addresses a group of fishermen. The meeting was one of 16 held along the Maine coast to discuss options for getting more control of lobster pricing, marketing and changes in fishery habitat. A range of proposals are being considered and decisions on some proposals are expected by early summer. © Photo by Sam Murfitt
How can the lobster industry raise the boat price when there are so many lobsters on the bottom? The Lobster Advisory Council [LAC] raised this question to about one hundred lobster industry members made up of fishermen, dealers, and even a few political representatives at a meeting in Camden last August.
Several weeks later, the LAC met and formed a sub-committee of eight fishermen plus the Maine Lobstermen’s [MLA] and Down East Lobstermen’s [DELA] Association presidents to look into what, if anything could or should be done to try to prevent a glut.
Cutler fisherman and LAC sub-committee member John Drouin said, “People are kind of skittish, and nobody wants to do a whole heck of a lot, but yet everybody says that something should be done.”
