Turning A Profit
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by Laurie Schreiber
The Simone and Rachel, Lubec Harbor, Maine, March 2013. Groundfish stocks in apparent decline and lobster stocks surging have long led to speculation on causes. Climate change as a factor jumped from back-burner rumor to unavoidable reality in 2012. The question now is how much climate change is and will be effecting marine life. Chessie Crowe Gartmeyer Photo
ROCKPORT – The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) board of directors is examining the “profitability crisis” of 2012 and looking at ways to help the industry turn things around.
The board reported on its discussion at the MLA’s annual meeting, held during the Maine Fishermen’s Forum a month ago.
“It’s just been a really hard year for everybody in the fishery,” MLA executive director Patrice McCarron told scores of people who attended the meeting. “I would just cringe when the phone rang last summer, and it carried through the fall.”
The MLA held a two-day retreat to figure out a way forward – mainly with regard to what harvesters can do, she said.
“There’s a lot of blame going around, a lot of frustration, and that’s very real. But that’s not really a strategy for the MLA to help the industry,” McCarron said. “So our question was, What can harvesters do to help ourselves?”
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