Tag Archives: Maine lobsters

Biden’s Latest Green Energy Victim: The Lobster Industry

One of President Joe Biden’s most disgusting “Nero fiddles while Rome burns” moments came when he hosted his first state dinner for visiting French President Emmanuel Macron. While the president and his guests gorged themselves on 200 live Maine lobsters poached in butter, his administration did everything it could to regulate the Maine fishing industry, particularly lobstermen. out of existence. And they’re making the fishing industry a scapegoat for the actual peril lurking in the waters off New England — offshore wind farms. >click to read < 15:04

I’m for the local guys

Just to let you know, in case you might have forgotten, that I am a Hoosier. I was born and raised in Indiana. I am from away. I tell you this stuff to let you know that while I am from away, my bride convinced me to adopt this state and switch my allegiance to reflect the views of my friends and neighbors. So, I think it is a damn shame that a scientific organization, from away, from California, no less, declared war on my local friends, the lobster fishermen. Somehow, without evidence, a respected marine scientific institution encouraged the nation to eliminate lobsters from stores and menus. Despite their statistical evidence to the contrary, they decreed that lobster fishing gear is the main reason the population of the mighty right whale is in peril. >click to read< 07:36

Misinformation Campaign: Twitter accounts tied to China lied that COVID came from Maine lobsters

Oxford researcher Marcel Schliebs first noticed the misinformation campaign when he saw a tweet from Zha Liyou, the Chinese consul general in Kolkata, India. The tweet by Liyou said: “Major suspect of covid via cold chain identified: A MU298 of Nov. 11, 2019 carrying food from Maine, US to Huanan Seafood Market, Wuhan, Hubei via Shanghai. During the next few weeks, many workers around moving this batch of seafood got infected.” >click to read< 07:50

Spiny lobster comes back to San Diego

The rumored price prior to the season opening was $8 per pound, down from the 2019 average of about $20 and 2015’s high near $30. California Department of Fish and Wildlife data showed that spiny lobster was the most profitable local catch at $3.8 million in 2017. In 2018, it brought in $3 million, beating out bigeye tuna. When the pandemic started in China in late 2019, it coincided with the height of legal spiny lobster season in California. Sales in 2019 dropped to $1.8 million. Among San Diego’s top-grossing seafoods, spiny lobster saw the biggest decline. Said Halmay, “They [local fishermen] got together and decided, ‘We can’t make a living off that. Let’s do something about it.’” >click to read< 16:54

Coronavirus: Seafood industry post COVID-19, an overhaul to trigger growth of small fisheries

The coronavirus outbreak spread through the planet at an unprecedented scale and brought the whole world to a halt, plummeting demand in the majority of the sectors including the seafood industry. Seafood producers across the world are without a market for their product as demand slumps and supply chains cripple due to restrictions imposed to contain the outbreak. The seafood sector is known to have some of the most complex and repressive supply chains but the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for change that would benefit fishermen as well as consumers.  >click to read< 19:01

Gov. Paul LePage: US should take on EU-Canada lobster tariff plan

Maine’s governor says the U.S. should challenge a European Union plan to lift tariffs on Canadian lobster. Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, says the tariff deal would put Maine lobsters at a “significant disadvantage” to Canada. He made the comments during an appearance on WVOM-FM on Tuesday. American lobster wholesalers and retailers are concerned about the possibility of a tariff change, in part because the exchange rate already favors Canada. The EU imported more than $150 million in lobster from the U.S. last year. LePage says it’s time to go to Washington and “instill in them how serious this is.” He says he intends to use his connections with the Trump administration to push the issue. Link 09:17

State Department enters trade dispute over Maine lobsters

The U.S. State Department is adding its muscle to help resolve an impending trade dispute between exporters of live Maine lobsters and the European Union. Responding to a letter from Maine’s congressional delegation, officials in the Obama administration have committed the State Department to address the trade threat. In March, Sweden announced it was attempting to ban live North American lobsters from the 28-country EU, citing concerns that some of them have been found in European waters and are an “invasive species” that threatens Europe’s native lobster species. “The State Department is on our side,” Sen. Angus King said Friday evening, “and I think they’re going to be aggressive.” Read the rest here 11:27