Last year Maine's fishermen and women brought in seafood valued at a record-breaking $891 million dollars — 20% higher than the previous record. The Department of Marine Resources says the value of the 2021 haul also signaled the massive bounce-back of seafood harvests and prices after the pandemic-damaged 2020.
Lobsters, clams, elvers and oysters, in that order, were the highest valued harvests last year. Lobster remained by far Maine's biggest fishery, with prices at the dock averaging an unprecedented $6.71, which drove the value of Maine's lobster fishery to more than $730 million.
Lobstermen continued to see high prices hovering around $11 a pound through mid-March this year, although that's moderated more recently.