Maine fishermen have come off a record season — both for the lobster and for Maine’s commercial fishery as a whole. The Maine Department of Marine Resources on Thursday said the state’s 2014 fishing season was the most valuable yet.
Fishermen hauled in $585.3 million worth of lobsters, clams, herring, elvers and other sea creatures, according to the department. That figure tops Maine’s $540.5 million catch in 2013 in value, though not in total weight. A record lobster season in which the crustacean fetched higher prices was the primary driver for the increased value, though scallops and soft-shell clams also posted gains.
The 2014 season marked another record for Maine’s commercial fishery: It’s more dependent than ever on lobsters. According to state data, lobsters accounted for 78.1 percent of Maine fisheries’ value, up from 68.5 percent in 2013. Herring, the primary bait for lobsters, accounted for 2.8 percent of the fisheries’ value.
Marine scientists have warned for years that the Gulf of Maine is becoming a lobster monoculture. The ecological conditions have become just right for a lobster population explosion and the near disappearance of other species — such as the groundfish that traditionally prey on young lobsters.
Though 2014 marked a high point, lobsters have long accounted for more than half of Maine fisheries’ value. Since 2002, it’s generally accounted for more than two-thirds. The lobster’s lowest point as a share of the fishery was in 1993, when it accounted for 32.9 percent of fisheries’ value.
Climate-wise, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute says 2015 so far is most similar to 2005. That year, lobsters represented 76.5 percent of the fisheries’ value.