BENTON — Maine state police say a tractor-trailer hauling 30,000 pounds of live lobster overturned in a crash on I-95 in Benton. Troopers say the driver, Horst Puff of Greenfield, Nova Scotia, told them he swerved early Wednesday to avoid striking a car that had spun out in front of him. The truck ended up […]
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Fresh lobster led Maine exports for growth in 2014
PORTLAND — Surging lobster prices last year helped turn around two years of decline for the total value of Maine’s exports, which rose about 3.4 percent despite decreases in the value of wood product shipments abroad. Wood products, including paper, still made up a larger share of Maine exports than all fresh and frozen seafood […]
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Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Rising lobster prices spur 120 million pound catch for 2014
Maine’s lobster catch brought in an estimated $453 million to fishermen in 2014, an all-time high that was driven by the largest per-pound price increase in more than 50 years. The Department of Marine Resources this week released preliminary catch figures, showing average prices jumped more than 25 percent — to $3.69 per pound — […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Lobster on menus means prosperity for Chinese New Year, Maine
Exports of U.S. lobster to China have rocketed in the past few years, largely to satisfy the appetites of the communist country’s growing middle class, to whom a steamed, whole crustacean — flown in live from the United States — is not just a festive delicacy and a good-luck symbol but also a mark of […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Winter lobsters could bolster fishery during shrimp shutdown
PORTLAND (AP) — Fresh-caught Maine lobster might be a little more affordable this winter because the continued shutdown of the state’s shrimp season is keeping some lobstermen at sea deeper into the winter than usual. Many Maine lobstermen use the shrimp season as a source of income during the winter, when lobsters are both in […]
Posted inBusiness, Maine
Cooler water, sustained demand buoy lobster prices
ELLSWORTH — After two years of unusually high catches of lobster off the Maine coast, commercial landings of the iconic crustacean may be falling back a little in 2014. People in the lobster industry say that might not be such a bad thing. Lobsters may have started appearing in traps later this past summer than […]
Posted inBusiness, Maine, sj-web
Maine makes emergency rule to save fishing gear
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine regulators are implementing an emergency change to fishing rules off of Mount Desert Island to prevent gear conflict between herring fishermen and lobstermen. The state Department of Marine Resources says the emergency rule creates a temporary exception to the department’s three lobster trap trawl limit. The rule went […]
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Scientists worry that warming seas could threaten lobsters
It’s already starting to happen. The culprit is the warming seas — and in particular the Gulf of Maine, whose waters are heating up faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, scientists say. Long-established species of commercial fish, like cod, herring and northern shrimp, are departing for colder waters. Black sea bass, blue crabs […]
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Lobster industry grateful for ‘normal’ summer
ELLSWORTH — If there is anything commercial fishermen in Maine have learned over the past several years, it is that things aren’t the way they used to be. Scallop catches are creeping back up as prices have hit an all-time high. Elver prices have come down a bit but remain historically high after shooting into […]
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Lobster season off to slow start; prices slightly up
ROCKLAND — The cold winter is still being felt in the waters off Maine, where the nation’s largest lobster fishery is off to a slow start. The season typically picks up after the bulk of the lobster population sheds its shells and reaches legal harvesting size. That occurred in late June last year and mid-June in […]