It's been a lose-lose situation for lobster fishermen and dealers this spring. The low $3.25 per lb. boat price (the price paid to fishermen) for superb hard shell lobster this spring left both worried about how low the price might drop when shedders come on the market.
By mid-June lobster was in short supply as the animals hid to protect themselves from predators while shedding hard old shells and waiting for soft new ones to harden.
For fishermen low prices for low catches meant more lean paychecks. For dealers it meant coping with increasingly smaller margins (what they make on what they sell rather than the number of lbs. sold.). Reports from Gloucester, Mass. confirmed Maine fishermen's and dealers' fears: buyers had gone on a split boat price: for hard shell, $4.50 per lb.; for shedders $2.50 per lb.
"There's no way we can make it at that price," said veteran Stonington fisherman Mike Shepard. "It hasn't been sustainable all spring, even at $3.25 per lb. If you're lucky, you're maybe breaking even. You really have to make $5 per lb., so much goes back into expenses."
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