Live lobsters. (Photo: Stock File)

Lobster season starts slowly with steady prices

UNITED STATES
Friday, July 14, 2017, 22:50 (GMT + 9)

Although New England's summer lobster season is off to a slow start it has not been translated into higher prices for consumers.

Business publisher Urner Barry reported that the wholesale price for 1-pound hard shell lobsters was USD 7.63 per pound in early July while it was a little more than USD 8 per pound at the same time last year.

Members of Maine's lobster industry said they still expect a healthy catch this year, but it appears to be arriving somewhat late compared to recent years, when the catch has soared, ABC News reported.

Maine's lobster catch exceeded 130 million pounds for the first time last year, and has surpassed 100 million pounds for six years in a row after previously rarely reaching 80 million.

The value of the crustaceans has also been high, and consumers and wholesalers have frequently been paying more for them, partly because of increased interest in US lobster from China.

The other coastal New England states, New York and New Jersey also have lobster fisheries, with Massachusetts having the second-largest lobster catch in the country. The crustacean is also the subject of a large fishery in Canada.

For his part, David Cousens, a South Thomaston lobsterman and the president of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, pointed out that one of the reasons catch is currently slow is because the price of bait is high, so fishermen are holding off until they know they will have successful runs.

 
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