Members of the Maine Lobster Dealer Import and Export Association want to be included in the governor’s newest task force, established in reaction to the ongoing lobster market crisis.
Having been left out of the governor’s process to date, members of the association gathered in Brunswick Dec. 2 to discuss ways to win support and address the problem.
“Why is it that in the last 12 months the train fell off its tracks?” said Jeff Holden of Portland Shellfish, a lobster processing company in the southern Maine city.
The association collectively agreed that the recent decline in lobster value is a global issue; a reflection of a recession that began last year and cannot be blamed on a lack of local control.
Holden said that when news about the recession broke Tuesday, the drop in price made sense. A report from the Business Cycle Dating Committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the U.S. economy peaked in Dec. 2007, marking the beginning of a recession.
Regardless of the possible causes or solutions, association members want to be included in the newly appointed task force.
Holden is a member of the dealer’s association, which was formed in 1981 and was responsible for establishing the lobster license plate fund. Funds from this program went into a state Research, Education and Development account within the lobster industry.
The 20 or more representatives, from all areas of the lobster import and export industry around the room at the China Rose restaurant, argued that $150,000 was taken from the fund to pay for a consultant on a newly developed task force put together by the governor.
After the meeting, Susan Bayley of Bayley’s Lobster Pound, of Pine Point, said in an email message. “When the governor mandated this task force, he also mandated the use of $150,000 from that fund to pay for a consultant, thereby circumventing the process by which these funds are supposed to be appropriated and taking the lobster dealers once again out of the loop.”
Gov. John Baldacci established a task force on Oct. 24 to establish a plan for improving the lobster market and sustaining the industry over the long term. He requested eight members from various departments and organizations around the state to serve on this task force.
According to the association, the eight members are: Ron Philips from Wiscasset based Coastal Enterprises Inc., acting as Chair, Dept. of Marine Resources Commissioner George Lapointe, Jim Nimon of the Dept. of Economic and Community Development, Patrice McCarron of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, Philip Conkling from the Island Institute, Daniel Hildreth of Diversified Communications, former state senator Dana Dow, owner of Dow Furniture in Waldoboro and Dane Somers of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council.
The governor’s executive order for this task force did not mention names, but stated that none of these eight members would be paid for their work.
The name of the independent contractor in the governor’s executive order for the task force was not mentioned either. The governor stated that the contractor would have national and international experience in food marketing. The task force would work with this contractor (consultant) in the development of a marketing plan for the industry.
“If they don’t include us,” Holden said in loud voice in a room full of lobster dealers, processors, trucking company representatives, retailers and shipping representatives, “what is their reference point?”
Peter Mackalany of New Meadows Lobster said that the task force has a representative from harvesting and academia, but no one from their association. “They’re trying to tell us how to market lobster,” Mackalany said.
The people at this meeting said that many of them have been in the lobster trade for decades. They said that the market had remained steady until the past year.
“We knew there was a problem,” Mackalany said, “We just couldn’t find out what it was.”
Mackalany said that Maine dealers compete not only with Canadian markets, but with markets all over the globe. The Canadian lobster industry has had to fight against the price of lobster from the Caribbean.
“It’s a competing product,” said Bayley, adding that it didn’t matter whether the east coast lobster and lobster from the Caribbean are physically different.
Shrimp and the Alaskan King Crab are also competing products, she said. It doesn’t help that the Alaskan King Crab gets so much media attention, either. She mentioned the TV show, “Deadliest Catch” and shook her head.
Holden said that he would keep an open mind if he were to be asked to serve on the task force.
The association members agreed that April 15, the date the task force must submit their plan to the governor, is not enough time. They want to be a part of the decision process for any change that might result from the task force findings. The association plans to submit a letter to the governor requesting representation in this market research project.
