Maine lobstermen adrift as prices sink

There was a really good article in the Morning Sentinel the other day on the state of the lobster industry. The article quoted a Cutler fisherman, John Drouin, extensively and I think he summed up the current situation very well. Below is an excerpt from the article:

"We're just holding the turn," says John Drouin, repeating an old fishermen's phrase about navigating through uncertain times.

Drouin lives in Cutler, an isolated Downeast lobstering community where there are virtually no other jobs to support his wife and five children. "There is going to be a lot of guys that go out of business this winter," he said.

Drouin is still fishing, even though at $2.25 a pound it's barely worthwhile. He might catch $675 worth of lobster on a good day, but spend $600 on fuel, bait and a helper, he said.

Drouin plans to get through winter by cutting back on family expenses. He's more worried that he won't be able to make up for the lost income when the lobster season starts up again in April.

"In reality, I don't see this getting any better next year," he said.

The rhythm of life in Maine lobstering communities is usually dictated by the tides, the weather and the size of catches. But that changed in early October, when the industry got caught up in the turmoil of global financial networks. Lobster prices plunged.

Along with a drop-off in lobster consumption worldwide, the collapse of banks in Iceland froze credit to large buyers in Canada, where about 70 percent of Maine lobsters typically go to be cooked and frozen.

The issue John highlighted which is quite unique to a small and isolated fishing village like Cutler is that there simply aren't many other viable jobs for people to turn to in times like these. As John mentioned in the article:

"There's 200 households in town. Fishing accounts for about 120 of those," he said. "There's a lot of concern about whether the people are going to even be able to pay their tax bills. We're just hoping that it's not a very snowy winter, because there's not going to be a lot of money to plow the roads." Some might be forced to leave town to try to find work, despite the stalled economy, because there are no other businesses nearby, he said. "It's a 40-mile round trip to get a gallon of milk."

My family has run a boat building business (primarily lobster boats) in Cutler in the winter for the last 20 years or so. It employs four men in town. This winter however, we have not orders for boats or repairs. People are hard up and making do with what they have.

To read more recent updates on the Maine lobster fishing season, click here.