PORTLAND – Maine fishermen caught a record $253.5 million worth of lobsters in 2004, boosted by a late-season hauling spree that gave lobstermen reason to cheer after a dismal start caused by cold ocean waters and poor weather.

The value of the 63.2 million-pound harvest was 20 percent higher than the previous record of $210.9 million set in 2002, and 23 percent higher than the 2003 catch, according to preliminary statistics of the Department of Marine Resources. The catch will go up several million pounds, and the value millions of dollars more, when the final numbers are tallied.

Last summer, a record harvest seemed implausible. The catch was in the dumps and there were no signs that it would pick up. But come fall, lobstermen went like gangbusters.

Pete McAleney, owner of New Meadows Lobster, was so busy he skipped his traditional vacation during Thanksgiving week, a time when lobstermen usually are done for the year.

“They didn’t bring in their traps,” he said. “They couldn’t afford not to. The lobsters didn’t know what date it was. They don’t have a calendar on the bottom.”

Besides the late-season rally, the catch was up because 2004 was the first year that seafood dealers were required by law to report how much lobster they handled, state officials and lobstermen said.

So even though the overall volume showed an increase because of the mandatory reporting, the average individual lobsterman’s haul was actually down compared to the previous year, said Carl Wilson, lobster biologist with the DMR.

“If you take away all the numbers and ask fishermen or dealers if they handled more lobsters, they’ll say they were down 10 percent,” Wilson said.

But the value of the catch, he added, is probably unprecedented – even factoring in more reporting from seafood dealers.

The price paid to lobstermen was $4.01 per pound, which is 7 percent higher than the previous record of $3.74 a pound set in 2003. As recently as 1998, lobstermen were averaging less than $3 a pound for their catch.

The lobster price has remained high because the lobster catch in the rest of New England and New York – Long Island Sound in particular – has declined in recent years, said Clare Grindal, executive director of the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association.

“The shortage of lobsters in the rest of New England has helped us,” she said.

There has been no shortage in Maine, despite warnings that lobster is overfished.

The Maine lobster industry has been on a tear since the early 1990s, when the catch broke 30 million pounds. The catch first exceeded 40 million pounds in 1997, and it topped 50 million pounds two years after that.

In 2002, the harvest rose to 63.6 million pounds before falling to 55 million pounds in 2003. The 2004 catch will set a record when the final numbers are tallied.

Lobster continues to be the star of the Maine seafood industry, accounting for two-thirds of the state’s $315 million fisheries harvest in 2003. Farm-raised salmon was the No. 2 species, followed by groundfish, clams and urchins.

With the 2004 lobster value coming in nearly $50 million above 2003, lobster’s share of the seafood pie is sure to grow when the 2004 data are compiled.

As for this year, there’s no telling what’s in store for lobster. In the weeks ahead, lobstermen will get ready for the summer season, when lobsters begin crawling into traps and lobster-hungry tourists flood the state.

The water temperatures at points along the coast now are between 36 and 38 degrees, which are colder than usual, Wilson said. Water temperature is a key factor in how active lobsters become and how likely they might be to crawl into traps.

But Clive Farris, a lobsterman in Boothbay Harbor, knows that water temperature is just one of several variables that make each season unpredictable.

“I’m hoping it’ll be a good year,” he said. “But I’m a little afraid with what the price of fuel is doing.”