Processing Plant Owners
Apply for Grant

GOULDSBORO—The company building a seafood processing plant here is applying for a $500,000 federal grant to help with acquiring equipment, building improvements, job training and operating capital.

The company will need to show that it can match the amount of the Community Development Grant Block Grant (CDBG). The company, Maine Fair Trade Lobster LLC, has estimated the total project cost to be at least $2.6 million. The company is providing $1.6 million, more than the required half agreed to in the plan.

The company hopes to begin operations in June. They expect to hire 100 people. The plant in the village of Prospect Harbor is expected to be one of the largest lobster processing operations in the state. Lobster will be graded and either sold live or processed into tails and claw meat.

The goal is to process 50,000 pounds of lobster per day, six days a week for nine months of the year.

An earlier attempt to develop the site for lobster processing was made by Live Lobster, Inc., a Chelsea, MA company. The bank, which granted Live Lobster a line of credit, foreclosed on the business when the company defaulted on its loan.

Maine Fair Trade Lobster, LLC is owned by two major American lobster companies - Garbo Lobster of Connecticut and East Coast Seafood of Lynn, MA. The infrastructure of these companies is in place and their financial base is considered solid. Both of these factors have given the community confidence in the project.