Tag Archives: 2020 lobster season
This lobster season they expected hell, but got high water
Captain Nick Muto of Chatham, Massachusetts, expected this summer’s lobster fishing to be a disaster. With restaurant shutdowns and other supply chain issues, he was expecting to have to hustle hard to get good prices for his ocean delicacies. But he was pleasantly surprised. “I hate to say it out loud, but things are right now looking very good,” he said. Like many fishermen, Muto shifted to selling more lobsters directly into local markets, whether to restaurants or even right off the docks to consumers. Patrice McCannon, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said government relief programs like the CARES Act and Payment Protection Program have helped harvesters stay afloat. >click to read< 18:11
The public is credited with helping Cape Breton fishermen through Coronavirus impacted lobster season
Herb Nash, president of the 4Vn management board, said catches were decent this year and those prices made the crustaceans a meal for everybody instead of simply a rare treat. “Instead of lobsters $7-$7.50 lb at the end, lobsters were $5 pound, so people were buying them,” the 55-year-old fisher said. “The local markets helped a lot this year.” This year, people could purchase lobster for $45-$50 a dozen compared to $70-$75. “If the local market wasn’t as good as it was, more lobster would have had to be shipped out to sell and I think we would have been swamped with lobsters.” Nash said with the pandemic affecting the community and businesses, they were grateful to get through it and get a paycheck.,, ”While this season was a historically difficult one, Nash can recall the 1970s when the lobster catches were bad back then — sometimes 15-25 pounds per day. >click to read< 18:13
