Between the Rock
and the Roll
The year 2001 was not a good year for
lobster fishermen in most areas of Massachusetts. In general, it
wasn’t a good year for anyone in lobster-land. Catches were down,
boat prices went way down and consumer interest in buying lobsters
all but disappeared.
This very general description of the traditional fall peak
time for lobster fishing is not news to most of us who hauled our
way through the past several
months.
The disappointing season was the result of two factors; the
catch and the price. If
either one of these factors had been different, would the end result
have been better or worse?
The most noticeable series of events certainly was the
September 11th tragic attack on our Country and its
aftermath. These events brought down a “bearable” four-dollar per
pound boat price during a slow harvesting season to a three dollar
“break-even” price within one week. As the ripple effects of
September 11th settled in, the boat price fell even
further into the unbearable two-dollar range. The price crash was a
direct result of the plummeting demand for lobster rather then any
sinister plot by dealers. These suppliers of lobster, it must be
remembered, only make money when they can sell lobsters. In this
case, the consumer just wasn’t interested in lobster because
afterall, our product has always been known as a celebration food
and no one was celebrating.
Besides the horrific events of September and the aftermath
effects, any recession and this has just been one more, brings with
it cut backs in what a consumer will buy. He or she will
instinctively begin to concentrate on necessities and lobster just
isn’t and has never been one of those necessary items. As it turned
out, things were so bad that no price was low enough to bring that
demand back. There even was a fear that the approaching holiday
season demand might not materialize either. This naturally instilled
fear and panic into the world of lobster suppliers. As it has now
turned out, the world did recover some of its taste for lobster and
this is encouraging.
Getting back to what is a necessity, lobster isn't
bread, potatoes and milk, and would we really want it to be?
If that were the case would the price to fishermen ever be high
enough to make it pay? It is true that restaurants and
supermarkets could have helped by lowering the retail prices but few
did. On the other hand remember, no one wanted to celebrate so
would it have helped? Supermarkets were busy supplying what
they knew the consumer needed and restaurants were awash in their own misery and panic
just trying to get a consumer into their dining room for any
meal.
In the world of the lobster processor, it
was much of the same story, no one wanted what they had to sell.
Their main markets were cruise lines, casinos and distant
restaurants. Cancellations from their customers were backing up
their flow of outgoing frozen lobster products. In this whole
picture, therefore, it was demand rather then any large supply that
was the culprit in the boat price disaster. One might wonder what would
have happened to the price if the season had been going better for
the fishermen when all this
happened.
The second disappointment has been the catch
itself. What happened to the lobsters? It was interesting to note
that the water temperature on the bottom this season in
Massachusetts’s area waters was lower then it was in Maine. Maine
fishermen caught some lobsters, not great, but nevertheless there
was production.
Massachusetts fishermen, in general, did not. The
temperatures down where the lobsters live actually was at or below
what it generally considered minimum levels for lobster
activity. Could that
have been one factor contributing to the poor catches? New England
is generally cursed or
blessed with several minor Nor’Easters between August and
November. Generally these storms, while not what fishermen look
forward to, do spark activity on the bottom and improve catches when
the storm passes. We didn’t have any. Could that have been a factor?
Fishing effort is always “suspect” when catches drop but effort has
been high elsewhere and catches seemed to be at least at respectable
levels. In all likelihood the lobsters are still out there and a
late December rally did occur which may confirm this last
point.
The bottom line here is that these two
factors, poor demand and poor catches, collided at the wrong time
but then again there probably is never a right
time.
Fishing has never been an easy profession
and lobster fishermen must recognize that events, natural or
otherwise, will happen. No one is guaranteed success. This is not,
however, the time to give up. There will be other tough times but
there will also be better times and lobster fishermen have
experienced it all. A lobsterman must be hard like a rock and learn
to roll with the punches. He has done it in the past and he must do
it now.
Hang in there – ol’
salt
Bill Adler
Executive
Director
01/02
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