The Navigator Online - The Voice of the Marine Industry

If only lobster prices were near traditional levels, fishermen in Maine and PEI would be all smiles these days because landings are excellent. In 2009, PEI fishermen landed 22 million pounds of lobster, the second highest catch ever recorded. Trouble is, prices were down and smiles are hard to find.

Same thing applies to south of the border in Maine. Lobster landings in Maine in 2009 were higher than they have ever been before, according to state officials.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources released its preliminary count for lobster landings in Maine for 2009. At nearly 75.6 million pounds, the estimate is 5.7 million pounds higher than the 69.9 million pounds caught by Maine lobstermen in 2008.
Previously, the highest recorded volume for landings in Maine was in 2006, when nearly 75.3 million pounds of lobster were brought ashore.
As one fisheries official put it, “things look really good on the water - the landings are not a surprise.'
The price of the tasty crustacean, however, did not have a record year last year. The value of the estimated 75.6 million-pound catch was $221.6 million, or about $23 million less than the $244.8 million value of the total landings in 2008.
The preliminary 2009 estimates indicate that the average statewide boat price for lobster last year was $2.93 a pound, which would be the lowest statewide average since 1998, when it was $2.92. In 2008, the average statewide boat price - what fishermen were paid for their catch - was $3.50. From 2004 through 2007, the average annual statewide boat price stayed above $4 a pound.