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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2009
Editorial
Time for ME lobster industry to reassess
Now that the Maine lobster task force has completed its work and submitted recommendations to Gov. Baldacci, it’s time for everyone in the lobster business to give careful thought about what should come next.
There are basically two choices. Reject the task force report as an expensive, unnecessary exercise and continue doing business as usual. Or start thinking about how some of the task force recommendations might be implemented.
Either choice will shape the future of the Maine lobster industry.
The core recommendation of the Moseley Group, the consultant hired to analyze the lobster business and develop a strategic plan for achieving economic sustainability, was the creation of a new entity to manage and direct research and marketing efforts for the entire industry.
The price tag for the effective operation of this body is a potential show-stopper – $10 million per year. That’s a fortune for a recession-rocked industry. And it’s also an easy out to give up on the whole notion of industry-wide reform.
But that might be a mistake. The Moseley report and subsequent task force recommendations contained some important observations that warrant serious consideration.
At the very top, the Moseley report identified two fundamental weaknesses within this industry. The first is the standard business model of taking whatever price is offered without any effective effort to influence consumer-purchasing decisions.
This “remarkably strong ‘buyer power’ constrains every sector of the industry as all players struggle to sell the same undifferentiated and commoditized product,” the Moseley report stated.
In other words, the industry tries to make money by pouring generic lobsters into a marketplace that has a lot of other often substantially cheaper options, including Canadian lobster, shrimp and other lesser priced seafood, and look-alike langoustine “lobster.”
Industry’s second shortcoming is the deeply rooted mistrust between lobstermen and dealers, and dealers to each other.
The opportunity to strengthen the industry’s long-term profitability and stability “is hindered by the vast rivalry among its constituents,” the report stated. The problem is exacerbated when demand sags due to market forces like the current global economic downturn.
“Constituents become rivalrous in seeking to maintain their slice of the pie. Dealers fight with one another for access to supply from lobstermen as well as for access to customers in the marketplace. And harvesters are frustrated with (being) forced to accept their income fate set by the market,” said the report.
These are the wrong battles. Harvesters and dealers rely completely on each other to get lobsters to consumers. They must work together to win the only battle worth fighting – positioning a well-branded Maine Lobster in the market so that consumers are willing to pay what it’s worth.
Changing antagonistic attitudes and figuring out how to raise money to fund an effective marketing and research body will be difficult. It will take a lot of people setting aside their own interests for at least a little while to think about how a unified Maine lobster industry might be able to achieve its full potential. /cfn/
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