Fishing in Maine.

[TomY]

Despite the alarmist reports on ocean temperatures using percentages, which can be very misleading, “Data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that the average global sea surface temperature – the temperature of the upper few metres of the ocean – has increased by approximately 0.13°C per decade over the past 100 years.”
I cant see how that’s going to convince all those lobsters to hightail it to Canada.

Lobsters are migrating North along the New England coast at a rate of about 40 mi per decade.

Back when the center of the industry was in Southern New England waters, the Gulf of Maine was too cold to be ideal for lobsters. It's all easy to follow not just in the science but the fishing fleets that migrate as well as the species (and other species). Maine lobstermen are tied to their zones and can't 'migrate' along with the center of the industry.

Lobster like most ocean species are pretty particular about water temperature. A couple degrees might not seem like much. The American lobster prefers water in the 40 to 50F range and dies in water above 68 degrees.

 

[RoyS]

Read Immanuel Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision" to find perspective concerning climate change. It is out of our hands.

 

[TomY]

The word up and down the coast is, the lobster catch is down 40% as of the end of September compared to the same period last year. The industry is hopeful this is largely due to a late molt and the end of the season will fill in most of the decline. I hope they are right. We'll know in March when the final figures are in.

Meanwhile in Southern New England, (Peconic Bay on LI,NY), I found this news particularly disturbing: Warming ocean temperatures that drove the American Lobster into the Gulf of Maine decades ago, now see seawater temperature spikes of 80F.

Scallops are mollusks and unlike lobsters can't move very far for cooler water, and die in temps above 80F.

The Baymen’s Nightmare: All the Scallops Are Dead (Published 2019)

There have been lean years in Peconic Bay, on Long Island. But fishermen have never seen a failed harvest like this one.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Will Gilmore]

Scallops are mollusks and unlike lobsters can't move very far for cooler water

Have you ever been diving for scallops? When they see you coming with their rows of blue eyes, they move pretty quick and plenty far as you reach for them, so you have to be sneaky and fast. But, maybe that's just warm water bay scallops.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[TomY]

Have you ever been diving for scallops? When they see you coming with their rows of blue eyes, they move pretty quick and plenty far as you reach for them, so you have to be sneaky and fast. But, maybe that's just warm water bay scallops.

-Will (Dragonfly)

Never dove for them but I used to sell them. We used to keep a few with lobsters in a touch tank in front of our fish market. Our kids would give 'shows' about shellfish out of the tank. A favorite thing to do was hold a scallop up to show the eyes and then hope it would squirt water on the bewildered listeners on the street.

I don't think they are as capable as say lobsters, more a crustacean, to move some distance to lower water temperatures off shore.

Sad for those fishermen in the Peconic Bay.

 

[JimInPB]

The spiny lobster harvest down in Florida is a bit scant this year also. The last few years have been epic.

 

[TomY]

Maine Elver season 2020 is underway. No surprise, like lobster, the demand is down; way down. $500 per pound for the live eels.

That may sound like a lot but the price in 2021 was $2000 per pound that fishermen were paid for their catch. That's a lot of money when they're running but there's still a lot of work in this catch. It takes many net fulls to amount to a pound of the little eels.

The Asian demand is way down. Kept alive to ship, the tiny eels are mostly raised in pens overseas. The mature eels are popular dining fare - but restaurants are closed.

Lobster boats are getting launched in our harbor and along the coast. A vibrant market for the fishermen has bloomed online. A Facebook group was organized by a young woman that gives lobstermen local outdoor retail spots to sell their catch (safely). It's working quite well as fishermen are paid full retail as opposed to the bottom $ demand of middle men in the industry that they usually fish for.

But the spring supply of lobsters is always low so there is enough demand. Once the lobsters move inshore into warmer water primarily to molt, the supply rockets.

That seasonal migration usually coincides with the tourist season and increased restaurant demand. You can count on the lobsters to be where they need to be, can you count on the tourists? How about the lobstermen, will they learn something about marketing their own catch? Sort of a back to the past idea.

 

[jssailem]

Last year we were discussing the reduction of lobsters in the water. They were moving north and to balance this decline boaters commented at the apparent increase in pots in the water.

Then we saw images of fish in the Venice canals returning due to the lack of tourists.

Now we are concerned about the lack of tourism and its affect on the Lobster Men/Women’s livelihood.

This makes me wonder if tourism is responsible for the issues. Perhaps now that tourism is reduced the lobsters may get a breather and they will recover some of their numbers to once again be plentiful. Easing the Demand may replenish the Supply.
Just speculating.

 

[Will Gilmore]

It's working quite well as fishermen are paid full retail as opposed to the bottom $ demand of middle men in the industry that they usually fish for.

Perhaps now that tourism is reduced the lobsters may get a breather and they will recover some of their numbers to once again be plentiful.

These two statements don't go together well. If the lobsterman loses some demand, but the profit margins go up for him, this may mean more pots and more lobstermen in the water as new online markets, that allow direct sales, slowly increase. No one, who has seen higher profit margins, wants to go backwards. Maybe less middle men, in the traditional sense and higher $s for the lobstermen, but that's also a sector of loss as those middlemen look for other work. Some will make it because their existing network can make the transition to online marketplaces and they have foodservice customers whose business will pick up again.

Their value is in connecting high volume catches to wholesale markets and distributors. However, the new norm of a more direct supply chain means the lobstermen will expect higher return for their catch and prices will go up for these wholesalers. This means restaurants will charge more and the end customer will become use to paying those new prices. That either means more customers will take to skip the resale points and work directly through the online connections or the higher price per catch will eventually stop looking like such a good deal as they learn how much their lobsters are selling for at Fisherman's Seafood Restaurant.

It's all a vicious cycle.

-Will (Dragonfly)