PORTLAND, Maine — The price of Maine lobster, which accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. catch, is tanking.

The primary factor, a drop-off in demand by penny-pinching diners, has been in place since summer. But a secondary problem recently surfaced: the global banking crisis left Canadian processors short on credit, trapping Maine lobstermen and dealers with too much supply. Continue reading →

PORT CLYDE, Maine — Linda Bean, president of Port Clyde Lobster, has identified a weakness in the lobster industry’s current financial difficulties.

“The problem is not low production, as some earlier predicted,” she said in a recent e-mail to the Bangor Daily News. “It is a combination of lowered demand and high production. Continue reading →

The economic turmoil happening around the globe, and in particular in the United States, has been causing deep concern for lobster fishermen in Maine who have been seeing their lobsters selling for $3 a pound and less. Continue reading →

(Marnie MacLean, NECN: Freeport, ME) – The international credit freeze is having a crippling effect on Maine’s lobster industry. Off-the-boat prices are as low as they’ve been in decades. Many fishermen say it’s no longer worth it to haul their traps. Still despite the rough waters, a woman with a famous last name is betting her branding will provide a better future for Maine’s lobster industry. This is Linda bean’s perfect Maine. The mid-coast Maine fishing village of Port Clyde. A place of unparalleled beauty, and a working waterfront. “I fell in love with the whole peninsula” Linda Bean is the granddaughter of L.L. Bean, the founder of one of Maine’s most successful companies. Continue reading →

The granddaughter of Maine retailer L.L. Bean bought two lobster wharves in midcoast Maine last year and has quickly become one of the largest wholesalers in the state. She’ll sell about 2.2 million pounds of lobster this year under the Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine label (lindabeansperfectmaine.com). Each lobster is tagged with its port of origin, either Port Clyde (where Bean runs a general store) or the island community of Vinalhaven.

She also offers wild Maine shrimp, lobster stew and lobster roll. Bean’s goal is to use eco-friendly practices to build a sustainable fishery, while advancing the market on the Maine-lobster brand.

Additionally, she hopes to eliminate inefficiencies that have marred the old model of lobstering. “Typically, lobsters passed through at least five hands before they ever reached a table,” she said.

Linda L. Bean recently purchased the Carver’s Harbor, Vinalhaven, lobster wharf and buying station formerly owned by Shafmaster of New Hampshire, doing business as Little Bay Lobster Co.

Bean, a member of the Freeport retailing family, also purchased the lobsters from a “floating” buying station owned by Peter Jones, who will run the combined facility. “I bought the real estate and I have arranged to buy his lobster supply,” she said. Jones will lease the former Shafmaster property for his bait facility. Continue reading →