New lobster processing plant to open in Tenants Harbor
Kyle Murdock, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who grew up on Monhegan Island, has announced plans to open a lobster processing plant in Tenants Harbor that would have the capacity to process up to 40,000 pounds of lobster per day.
As reported by the Portland Press Herald, Murdock spent $455,000 for the property and another $350,000 renovating the facility and installing equipment. He secured financing from private investors, a bank loan and Community Development Block Grant funds to purchase the long-vacant Great Eastern Mussel Farms facility in Tenants Harbor. He also received a grant from Efficiency Maine to install energy-efficient equipment and got tax credits through the state's Seed Capital Tax Credit program.
Murdock said he plans to open Sea Hag Seafood – named after his father's lobsterboat and a restaurant his parents once owned – next week and is now hiring the 35 to 40 workers. At full capacity, he estimated the processing plant would employ up to 100 workers.
Sea Hag Seafood will join Maine's three largest processing plants -- Cozy Harbor Seafood in Portland, Shucks Maine Lobster in Richmond and Maine Lobster in Rockland – at a volatile time in Maine's lobster industry, which has been rocked this summer by a glut of soft-shell lobsters and dock prices as low as $2.60 a pound -- a price Maine lobstermen have said doesn't even cover expenses.
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