PORTLAND — Casco Bay fishermen donated hundreds of pounds of lobsters to the needy Wednesday in a giveaway designed to draw attention to depressed lobster prices and encourage shoppers to step up consumption of the tasty crustacean.

“This is the buy of the decade,” said Cape Elizabeth lobsterman Greg Griffin as he helped unload tubs of lobsters from a boat berthed beside Widgery Wharf. “We’ve got the price down below hamburg, and I think we’re headed toward chicken wings.”

Lobstermen who organized the giveaway said they hoped the publicity it generated would encourage consumers to buy lobsters in the realization that it has become affordable dinner fare and is no longer a rare treat reserved for special occasions.

“What we’re doing today is asking the consumer to help. We’re asking them to skip a steak dinner and make it lobsters this time,” Griffin said.

An estimated 460 pounds of lobsters donated by dozens of fishermen were distributed to officials of non-profit organizations that serve meals at shelters, soup kitchens and senior citizen centers across southern Maine.

“We’re going to surprise a lot of folks who haven’t had lobster for a long time,” said Brian Norcia of Shalom House, a residential program for the mentally ill, as he waited beside his cooler to receive the free lobsters.

Roxanne Andrews of the Southern Kennebec Senior Center in Gardiner said a lobster luncheon set for Thursday will be “a real luxury” for the 40 elderly clients who usually are served more mundane fare.

Lobstermen from Massachusetts donated part of their catch earlier this week to underscore their complaints that prices were too low to afford them a decent income.

The Portland giveaway came as a work stoppage by dozens of Casco Bay lobstermen entered its third day. Fishermen from Harpswell and several Portland-area islands had kept their boats tied up since Monday after prices they receive from dealers dropped to a season-low $1.85 a pound for softshell lobsters.

Many retailers in the Portland area have been selling lobster at less than $3 a pound, the lowest price this year. An abundant lobster supply coupled with a lackluster tourist season linked to the region’s slumping economy has been blamed for the drop in prices.

On hand for the wharfside giveaway was Ed Blackmore of Stonington, president of the 1,500-member Maine Lobstermen’s Association, who said his organization neither endorsed nor opposed the tie-up.

“The individual fisherman is making his own decision,” said Blackmore, adding that the answer to depressed prices lies in more effective promotion that will create new and expanded markets for Maine lobsters at a time when supplies remain plentiful.

Last year’s catch in Maine totaled 24 million pounds and “it appears that this one’s going to be even higher,” Blackmore said.