2018 Lobster Landings Strong

Maine’s lobster harvesters saw a strong year in 2018, landing 119.64 million pounds, according to the Department of Marine Resources.

That was an increase of nearly 8 million pounds over 2017’s figure of 111.9 million pounds.

The landings peak was in 2016, when 132.6 million pounds were harvested, after four years in the range of 122 million to 127 million pounds, according to the agency’s data.

https://www.maine.gov/dmr/commercial-fishing/landings/documents/lobster.table.pdf

2018 was the seventh time in history that more than 110 million pounds of Maine lobster were landed.

At $484.544 million, the value of Maine’s lobster fishery climbed by more than $46 million over 2017 on the strength of a boat price that increased from $3.92 per-pound in 2017 to $4.05 in 2018.

According to data published by NOAA, American lobster was the most valuable single species harvested in the U.S. in 2015, 2016 and 2017, with Maine landings accounting for approximately 80% of that value each year.