ELLSWORTH, Maine — Maine fishermen landed 276.6 million pounds of seafood and bait worth more than $425 million in 2011 thanks, in part, to a record lobster haul, state fisheries officials announced Thursday.
According to preliminary figures, last year’s total catch was 21 million pounds larger than in 2010 and represented the biggest haul since at least 2006. But despite the increase in total pounds, the estimated value of Maine’s 2011 catch declined by roughly $30 million due to a smaller harvest of pen-raised Atlantic salmon, the Department of Marine Resources said.
Once again, the lobster fishery continued to dominate Maine’s commercial fishing industry, especially in terms of the monetary value of the catch.
For the first time in history, the lobster catch broke the 100 million-pound mark in 2011, with the 103.9 million pounds representing nearly 38 percent of the total landings in Maine last year. Financially speaking, those lobsters were worth an estimated $331.4 million to fishermen — or nearly 78 percent of the total “boat price” value of all species caught in Maine in 2011.
Ten years ago, Maine fishermen landed just 49 million pounds of lobster. Fisheries officials and researchers attribute the dramatic increase to a number of factors, including a decline in fishing for other species such as groundfish and urchins as well as the health of lobster populations. Maine’s aggressive policies requiring fishermen to mark and toss back egg-bearing females and a lack of predators are often credited with helping the local lobster population to grow.
The record catch has not coincided with record profits for lobstermen, however.
Fishermen received, on average, $3.19 a pound for lobster last year, down from $3.31 a pound in 2010 and prices that exceeded $4 a pound from 2004 to 2007. Additionally, higher prices for fuel and bait have eaten into any profits in recent years.
The amount of Atlantic herring, which is a major source of bait for lobstermen, landed in Maine also jumped by nearly 18 million pounds. Landings of groundfish also increased from 4 million to 5.1 million pounds.
But total harvests for many other species declined from 2010 to 2011, according to the preliminary figures. Maine’s shellfish industry reported the most declines.
For instance, the mahogany quahog catch dropped from 4.7 million pounds in 2010 to 2.2 million pounds last year. Likewise, landings of hard clams fell from 1.8 million pounds to 429,000 pounds although soft clams increased from 10.2 million to 11.1 million pounds.
The Department of Marine Resources did not release the 2011 landings for farm- or pen-raised Atlantic salmon. However, the department said in a press release that lower salmon harvests were responsible for much of the $30 million decline in the total value of Maine landings last year. Aquaculture operations harvested 24.5 million pounds of salmon in 2010 worth an estimated $77 million, which represented the second most valuable fishery in the state last year.
Breaking down the catch by region, more lobster were landed in Hancock County than any other county in Maine, with fishermen reportedly landing 33.4 million pounds of the crustaceans worth an estimated $106 million. Hancock was followed by Knox and Washington counties, with 29.7 million pounds and 16.6 million pounds, respectively.
A lobster may start out at $3.19 a pound, but by the time he finds his way to the store he must get his ego stroked because the store tells him he’s worth at least $10/lb.
He must be a rock star by the time he ends up on a $25 resturaunt plate.
Everytime that lobster is touched by a handler the price goes up 5o cents at least.
Yet lobstermen still cry poor.
I wonder how come all the lobster fisherman I know claim they will have to sell everything they own because they make no money, yet year after year they keep putting traps in the water….. record catches…..no money….Hmmmmm
Lobstermen do have a high overhead. About 50 to 60 percent of what they take in gross goes to expenses. However the statement that you cannot make money as a lobsterman is not factual. It is hard work and you have to work a lot to bring in the bucks but the dollars are there. I know of one lobsterman out of Stonington who grossed a little bit more than 800000 grand a few summers ago. Even at 75% percent going towards expenses he would net 200000 thousand and that is good money.
If you were told that some onecaught $800K worth of lobsters in one year and believed it I have a bridge in NY I want to sell you. If you do the math the average price of lobster last year was $3.19/lb. $800K means he caught 250,783 pounds. NOT possible.
I didnt say he made it all catching lobster though did I? He drags for shrimp as well and also is in on the bait business. He also has more than one boat if you know what I mean, boats that he fishes but doesnt really fish himself. He is the same fellow that has been proposing that zone c is too small and that it should be expanded by taking area away from zone d.
You did say that he was a lobsterman who grossed $800K which is what I based my answer on. And if he thinks that Zone C is to small he can always go offshore, which he probably does. And if he is controlling more than one boat he has higher expense than if he only had one boat, he would need another crew as wsell as the upkeep and maintaince. And no, I don’t support that at all. We have one of the most highly regulated fisheries in the world and the overwhelming majority of fishermen I know support ALL of the regulations on us that keep the fishery healthy, except for some of the whale rules that are just poorly thought out and imposed by people who don’t know anything about the industry and are quite prouid of that fact..
Global Warming is going to destroy Maine agriculture……NOT!
No it won’t, but over fishing surely will.
Next year, when we hear that overfishing has depleted the stock, I’m not going to be interested in any belly-aching from the lobster community about scaling back.