Lobster fishermen are still getting the low $3.25 per lb. boat price for superb hard shell lobster this spring left both worried about how low the price might drop when shedders come on the market. It is told that by mid-June the supply of lobster was short as the animals hid to protect themselves from predators while shedding hard old shells and waiting for soft new ones to harden.
Fishermen said that low prices for low catches meant more lea paychecks. For dealers it meant coping with increasingly smaller margins. Vinalhaven fisherman Walter Day agrees fishermen are hurting. He mentioned boats with mechanical breakdowns and fishermen, “hunting for money to do it.”
It is mentioned that for the last six months it had been as if the country went into hibernation during the week, coming out on weekends if the weather was good. Experts said that the monopoly dealers have thousands of lbs. of lobster put away and are pushing the price to suit their fancy. After the price had jumped a dollar in five days, word leaked out that the big guy called the co-ops he controlled and told them to raise the boat price to $4.25/lb. and that he’d pay “the right commission.”
