Lobster lovers feeling pinched

A first-ever, industrywide live lobster supply crisis has not only caught veteran lobster dealers by surprise, but also raised the boat price to a record $10 a pound at most ports and upward of $14 a pound at the retail counter.

The boat price paid to lobstermen had been around $7.50 a pound but a shortage of lobsters from Canada to Cape Cod briefly pushed the Cape Ann boat price to $10 a pound last week, and several local seafood sellers said yesterday the boat price remains at that level.

“We have never seen prices this high before in our 26-year existence. This crisis is about the availability of lobsters and not about the price,” said Mike Tourkistas, president of Lynn-based East Coast Seafoods, the country’s largest lobster wholesaler.

“The inventory (of pounded, live lobsters) has been cleaned out; the boats aren’t catching them, and (the dealers) have to wait for the boats (to catch the new supply),” agreed Vince Mortillaro, owner of Mortillaro Lobster LLC in Gloucester. “That’s the problem. The supply has been critical the past three weeks. I’ve never seen the market like this, either.”

Bill Adler, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen Association, also said he’s never seen prices this high. He said the most recent report is that distributors are paying $10 to $11 a pound for lobster, and “then they have to turn around and sell that for a profit.”

On Cape Ann, businesses which buy and sell lobsters agreed that while local lobstermen have not started fishing yet this season, a shortage from Canada and Maine is responsible for the spike in price.

“They’re basically out of lobsters up there,” said Kenny Porter, owner of Roy Moore Lobster Co. on Bearskin Neck in Rockport. “The ones that are trickling down are costing more and more. I heard the boat price went up to $12 a pound in Canada.”

Yesterday, Roy Moore was selling lobsters for $13.99 per pound.

“I’ve been doing this for 27 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Porter said.

Anthony Ciarametaro, owner of Captain Vince Seafoods on Parker Street, said very few local lobsterers have gone out this season.

Less inventory

Surprise midwinter demand, lobster pound owners’ skittishness, and late winter cold and storminess helped contribute to the lobster shortage.

“The pound keepers in Maine stored 1 million less pounds of live lobsters this season compared to other years. There was such a shortage of hard-shelled lobsters last September and October that many even pulled them out of that inventory then,” Mortillaro explained.

Numerous pound owners, already gun-shy from losing money the past two years, further sold what stock they had earlier than usual in the winter after seeing the boat price drop during Christmas week and seeing local landings continue into early January because of the mild weather.

Such pound owners typically fill their tidal lobster pounds in the fall when catches are usually plentiful and their prices are down, then hold the inventory, which can be in the millions of pounds, and begin unloading it as prices rise in the winter.

Canadians pound lobsters both indoors and outdoors. Lobster dealers especially depend on the pounded lobsters between the active lobstering seasons which typically end in January and begin in April.

The little inventory left in the system has come from Canada, and these suppliers have been able to largely name their price.

“Those (pound keepers) that held on and took a risk are making over $6 a pound now. I paid around $6 a pound for lobsters at this time last year. This year, I paid $11 a pound,” said Mortillaro. “This January and February there were more lobster sales than other years. By February, more lobsters were going out of the system than were being brought in,” Mortillaro added.

Late winter cold and storminess

Winter’s late start followed by prolonged bitter cold and storms have also slowed trap-caught lobster landings to a drip, off of the New England and Canadian coasts.

The March 16 snowstorm which carpeted Cape Ann with about nine inches of snow only worsened the situation by either keeping most lobsters sleeping or putting others back to bed. Nothing cools seawater faster than snow. Bottom water temperatures are probably in the high 30-degree range now. A rise in that water temperature will help activate more of the cold-blooded lobsters, which stay dormant during the cold season.

“The previous year, the boats fished all year, and the supply kept coming in,” Mortillaro said.

Tourkistas added that catches are way down, with catches of fewer than 10 lobsters out of 100 traps not uncommon lately.

“The lack of landings isn’t due to a lack of effort; the lobsters just aren’t trapping,” Tourkistas said.

Demand, according to Mortillaro, “is all Easter holiday-driven in Europe. The U.S. lobster market is nearly in a complete shutdown today. Many restaurants have taken lobsters off of their menus and ‘No lobster’ signs are up everywhere. Customers are saying they will buy lobsters again once the price drops,” Mortillaro said.

According to Chuck Courtois, who is in charge of sales at Mortillaro’s, “The lobster is a poor investment for most right now, considering what you pay for one and what you might make on it.”

The age-old economics of supply and demand are driving the market. “Every time the price goes up, it knocks more people out of the system,” said Mortillaro.

The high price also acts as an incentive for lobstermen to set traps and cash in on it.

“The lobster market is all in Mother Nature’s hands right now. The water has to warm up. Several Canadian lobster fishing areas will also open in mid-April and add to the supply. Once there’s a little sign of lobsters, the boat price will plummet $3 to $4 a pound overnight,” Mortillaro predicted.

Staff writers Douglas A. Moser and Stephen Tait contributed to this report.

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