Harvesting dipped in the early days of the pandemic, but Maine’s lobster industry rebounded in an unexpected way.
Subscribe to Mainebiz and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
A year ago, Maine Lobstermen’s Association President Kristan Porter was optimistic about the lobster industry’s prospects for 2020. He predicted the catch might go down a bit as the fishery emerged from a series of record catches — but prices would likely remain strong due to continued demand.
Maine’s 2020 landings haven’t been tabulated yet. But even considering the impact of the pandemic — lost sales to restaurants, food service suppliers and the export market — Porter expects they will be about the same as 2019. The optimism is thanks to a shift to the home cooks buying more lobster.
“As far as value, I think we’ll probably be down,” he says. “The price did rebound toward the end of the season, but for the beginning of the season and through some of the summer, it was 20% to 30% lower than the previous year.”
Early in the season, harvesting activity was lower than usual as lobstermen waited to see what the market would do.
“When the market started picking up, people saw there was a price where they could make a living,” he says.
For 2021? Porter said the hope is that, when traditional markets reopen, the retail home-cook market will remain strong and add more demand overall.
Copyright © 2026 New England Business Media. All Rights Reserved.