Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 25 O C T O B E R 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 F O C U S M I D C O A S T / D OW N E A S T "We have the marine hardware stores, the people who do the trucking, the bait businesses. ere are the garages that fix the trucks," says Billings. ere's the downtown grocery. "He opens at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and there's a line out the door, with the guys going in to get food before they head out on their boats," she says. e activity also attracts visitors. "Tourists go to Bar Harbor to see the park, they go north to see the moose and they come here to see the lobstermen," she continues. Although the value of Stonington's lobster landings declined from $68 million in 2016 to $51 million in 2019, the town has outranked other ports for at least the past five years. "It's a stunning value, when you think of putting that much money into the economy of an island," says Robin Alden, a co-founder of Stonington's Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries. Season of just-enough Statewide, says McCarron, "ere was a ton of anxiety going into the season when the pandemic hit, because restau- rants and food service shut down and over three-quarters of seafood is con- sumed in restaurants." She adds, "We were wondering, No. 1, if fishermen fished, would there be a market for their product?" Fishermen were also concerned the per-pound price paid to them would not be high enough to cover their costs. Some fishermen shifted operations going into the season in order to avoid overburdening the supply chain. "Anecdotally, I've heard of older people not setting gear," McCarron says. "People were being careful about the number of traps they set." But the timing of the pandemic's start is considered something of a silver lining. Early spring is always slow for the fishery. "By and large, the lobster fish- ery lucked out," says Carla Guenther, chief scientist at the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries. "People were able to shift to direct marketing, because we didn't have the high volume coming in." As of mid-September, lobsters also hadn't been as plentiful as they usually are at that time of year. So the market, as it geared up, has been able to absorb available product. "I think the lobster haven't struck yet in their full bloom," says Reynolds. "But we're still anticipating a good fall like we had last year." Scarcity helped boost payments to fishermen, who are seeing per-pound prices of $4.50 or more — close to what they saw at this time a year ago. Combined with "surprisingly healthy retail demand, prices have been a lot stronger than what we anticipated in the midst of COVID in March and April," says Reynolds. "It's like the stars have been in alignment to allow us to limp along as opposed to crash," says Guenther. "It's a season of just-enough." The outlook "We're taking it a day at a time," says McCarron. "We've been really pleased that the dealers and processers have been so effective in building new markets. We hope those continue. But I wouldn't want to guess what next week or next month brings in this pandemic economy. I think everyone will continue to be cautious." Billings, the town manager, also worries about the pandemic's long-term effect. "We're really only in the first few months of the pandemic and it's likely to have profound ecomic consequences coming up," says Billings. "at makes me afraid. We're a town that's really depen- dent on the resource-based economy." But, she adds, "Fishermen are smart and resilient. ey'll dig in." On a September afternoon, Williams had recently returned from hauling traps. "Today, we haven't had a big day," he says. "But if we get 500 pounds and we do it six days a week, it's a week of work. So business is normal." He adds, "ings have been way bet- ter than we expected." Laurie Schreiber, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at lschreiber @ mainebiz.biz Maine's credit unions are here for you. mainecreditunions.org Your continued success is our priority. Maine credit unions know how important local businesses are. We know that hard-working Mainers deserve banking they can depend on. From savings, checking and loans to convenient services like mobile and online banking, and remote deposits, we are financial partners that are committed to you. Trade wars M aine's lobstering industry got a boost in August when the European Union announced an end to tariffs on imports of U.S. lobster. In 2017, the EU was a top desti- nation for American lobster, account- ing for 15% to 20% of annual exports. Unlike Canadians, American export- ers faced tariffs of 8% for live lobster and up to 30% for frozen products. Retaliatory tariffs imposed by China in 2018 remain in effect. Pre- viously, China was the second-largest importer of Maine lobster, in 2017. In September, the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture announced a Seafood Trade Relief Program that could award $50 million to lobster- men, based on a rate of 50 cents per pound multiplied by pounds landed in 2019.

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