2014 “An Awesome Year” for
Lobster Fishermen

By Laurie Schreiber

ROCKPORT—Although lobster landings for 2014 were on par with 2013 and 2012, fishermen earned almost $90 million more in 2014 than they did in 2013.

“Two thousand fourteen was an awesome year,” Maine Lobstermen’s Association executive director Patrice McCarron said during the MLA’s annual meeting at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March. “You guys were making money. Value is where the story is.”

According to preliminary data released Feb. 26 by the Department of Marine Resources, “For the third year in a row and only the third time ever, Maine lobster fishermen landed over 120 million pounds with a record overall value of $456,935,346….At $3.69 per pound, the 123,676,100 pounds landed represented an improvement of 79 cents per pound over 2013, the largest one-year increase in per-pound value since DMR and National Marine Fisheries Service began keeping records. The one-year increase in overall value was also the largest on record and at $86,653,573 was more than the total value of the fishery 21 years earlier.”

The scenario was a significant contrast to 2012, when fishermen were socked with a low boat price, although the fishery’s overall value that year held steady because of high landings.

In 2012, the boat price was generally lower than $3. In 2014, the boat price averaged $3.50, and was above $4 in Zone G, the westernmost zone. The change may have been partly due to a shift in the landings cycle, said McCarron. In 2012, landings spiked in June, and were similarly strong in July and August. In 2014, landings from June through August were lower, and spiked up from September through November.

“We shifted June and July landings to September and October, and you made more,” McCarron told the audience of fishermen. “So the landings were a wash, but the value climbed. Shifting from the early to the late part of the season made the difference.”

According to the DMR, the 2012 season saw an early shed that created a supply of new-shell lobsters that exceeded demand and depressed value. In 2014, the shed happened later, allowing processors, dealers, and restaurants to handle them more profitably.

Overall, the resource has expanded “dramatically” since the late 1980s, particularly in eastern Maine in the last 10 years, due to “favorable environmental conditions for growth and reduced predation on small lobsters,” said DMR Marine Science Bureau Director Carl Wilson.

Wilson said, “2014 marked a return to near average levels of settlement after three successive years of low settlement, which was a favorable pattern change for the resource.”

The substantial increase in lobster value contributed to an increase in value overall for Maine’s commercially harvested marine resources, which generated over one-half billion dollars for the state’s economy, according to preliminary data released March 5 by the DMR. That represents a jump by more than $44 million over 2013.

Also contributing to the overall increase was an additional $1.8 million in the value of scallops, the DMR said.

“Maine’s scallop fishery also saw another year of increased landings and value as it continues to rebuild from an all-time low of 33,000 pounds landed in 2005,” the DMR said. “Maine’s 438 active licensed draggers and divers landed an additional 78,335 meat pounds (without the shell) over 2013 for a total of 584,173 pounds. At $7,464,690, the value of the fishery increased by more than $1.8 million.”

Additional DMR information

• Maine’s softshell clam fishery grew by more than $1.1 million to $19.2 million, even while landings declined by more than 1.5 million pounds, dropping from 11.2 million pounds in 2013 to 9.7 million pounds.

• Landings for Maine’s elver fishery, constrained for the first time by an overall state quota, declined by more than 8,000 pounds, from 18,076 pounds in 2013 to 9,690 pounds. Value decreased by more than $24 million to a total of $8.4 million attributed in part to the quota constraint and a decline in per-pound value from 2013 of nearly $1,000. The decline moved the elver fishery from second most valuable to fourth.

• The softshell clam fishery reclaimed its position as the second most valuable commercial fishery.

• Atlantic herring, valued at $16.3 million was the third most valuable fishery in 2014.