Lobster council campaign touts ‘eco-friendliness’ of industry

Say hello to the sustainable, eco-friendly Maine lobster.

The Maine Lobster Promotion Council today plans to unveil a campaign that tells the world more about biodegradable trap openings and the non-endangered species that helps define the state.

“We want the public and consumers to know that lobster harvesters have for generations used methods that are environmentally friendly,” the council’s Jan Kaufman said Wednesday.

The council plans to launch its “Lobster from Maine is Eco-friendly” campaign this morning at the Fish Camp on the seaside campus of Southern Maine Technical College in South Portland.

The campaign includes a new logo showing a silhouette of a lobster framed by the words “Lobster from Maine … An Eco-Friendly Industry.”

And lobster fishermen Greg Griffin and Steve Train will give demonstrations of lobster harvesting methods to campers as part of the program.

Susan Barber, executive director of the Bangor-based promotion council, said “savvy consumers” have been demanding healthy and tasty products for years, but that more and more are looking for food that is also environmentally friendly.

Maine lobster fits that bill, she said.

“People like to make informed choices, and the new ‘Lobster from Maine is Eco-friendly’ logo is an effective way of letting consumers know about the origin of the lobster they eat, how it’s harvested, and what it means to them and the environment,” Barber said.

When it comes to buying lobster, any kind of an informed choice is desirable. It is the state’s leading fishery, and the 48 million pounds landed in Maine last year had an estimated value of $150 million, according to the Department of Marine Resources.

Add to that the retail price of lobsters in stores and restaurants, the tourists they lure each summer, plus the cost of the goods and equipment needed for their harvest and the economic value of the fishery gains in importance.

The Maine Lobster Promotion Council is a nonprofit organization founded in 1991 by mandate of the Legislature. The council is made up of harvesters, dealers, three members of the public and the state marine resources commissioner. Part of its mission is marketing and promoting the sale of Maine lobster in local, regional, national and world markets.

Part of what the council wants to tout is the way lobsters are harvested.

Patrice Farrey, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, noted that lobsters are not dragged from the ocean floor by mechanical methods, but caught in traps, many of which are fitted with biodegradable panels that allow lobsters to escape.

Maine lobsters are still harvested the old-fashioned way, with each fisherman hauling around 300 traps a day, one trip at a time.

Farrey also cited the recent use of a process called V-notching that involves putting a small mark in the tail flopper of “berried,” or egg-bearing, females. Other harvesters know that a V-notched lobster is supposed to be thrown back, allowing her to reproduce.

The industry has also established a Maine Lobster Seed Fund to provide money for research and divided the state’s waters into zone management areas with rules creating trap limits and regulating the number of new fishing licenses in a specific area.