Lobster zones A, C and D comprise the majority of the state’s lobster landings, at 22%, 25%, and 19% respectively. Zone B lobstermen brought in 14% of the lobster while zones E, F, and G landed 19% of the 2017 total.
Zone C lobstermen harvested the greatest number of pounds (27,679,499) while zone A came in second, at 24,613,396 pounds. By comparison, zone E lobstermen caught slightly more than 6 million pounds and zone G lobstermen caught a bit more than 4 million pounds.
The price paid to lobstermen in 2017 did not reflect the drop in volume, however. The average boat price of lobster fell from $4.08 per pound in 2016 to $3.91 per pound in 2017. This caused confusion among lobstermen, since in 2016, when landings topped 131 million pounds, the boat price remained high, at an average of $4.07 per pound. Some credit the decline in boat price to the inventory of 2016 live and frozen processed lobster held by Canadian firms. Others point to the Canadian-European Union Free Trade Agreement that came into force in September, 2017, which immediately removed the 8% tariff on live Canadian lobster. Enormous harvests of crab and shrimp throughout the world also suppressed lobster prices globally.
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