Maine fishermen brought in nearly $389 million dollars worth of lobster last year, the lowest in a decade. It's an almost 48% drop from 2021's record-breaking catch, according to preliminary data that the Maine Department of Marine Resources released Friday.
Kristan Porter, a Cutler fisherman and president of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, said 2021 was an exceptional year.
"Then comes 2022 with inflation and the economy not as good, people spending more money on putting gas in their tank and buying groceries, they weren't doing the extras like going out to eat and buying lobster off the top of the menu," Porter said Friday from the Fishermen's Forum in Rockport. "So demand was lower."
Average prices at the docks tumbled from an average of $6.71 a pound in 2021 to $3.97 last year. That price was on par for the years before 2021, according to the Department of Marine Resources.
But Porter said the prices, combined with the rising cost of fuel and bait, made it more difficult for lobstermen to fish in 2022.
"Guys didn't fish as hard because the price was lower," Porter said. "If the price had been better guys would have fished a little harder and the landings would have been more."
The overall harvest for Maine lobster was also down compared to previous years. Fishermen landed nearly 98 million pounds of lobster in 2022.
The last time Maine lobstermen landed fewer than 100 million pounds was back in 2020, when the first year of the pandemic upended the fishery. The annual value for the lobster fishery hasn't fallen below $400 million since 2013.
