Lobster sale to aid fishermen, island food pantry

STONINGTON – A second community lobster sale planned for this weekend will not only benefit beleaguered local fishermen, it also will help the local food pantry.

The Penobscot East Resource Center will hold another community lobster buy 1-4 p.m. Saturday on the Stonington Fish Pier. The event coincides with the Island Fishermen’s Wives’ Christmas festivities that are scheduled in town Saturday.

“In October, when we held the lobster buying event on the pier, it got national and international attention for the need – and opportunity – to support a fishing community by eating lobster,” PERC Executive Director Robin Alden said in a prepared release. “This time, our motto is ‘Eat a lobster, feed our community.”‘

The lobster price to the fishermen continues to be very low, the result of the international financial crisis. The boat price for soft-shell lobsters was reported at $2.60 a pound last week, according to Alden. That is a sharp drop from the top price of $4.20 per pound that fishermen received last year.

As a result, many fishermen have taken traps up early this year, she said.

The state has convened a task force to look at changes in the market that might help in future years. Now, Alden said, what can be done locally is to buy and eat lobster, which will help to increase the demand for lobster.

The lobsters for the lobster buy will come from two Stonington pounds, the Stonington Lobster Co-op and Green Head Lobster, which also is providing the truck for the lobster sales.

Lobsters will be sold for $5 each (11/4 pound) live. This time, unlike the lobster buy in October, there will be no cooked lobster available. Proceeds after the cost of the lobster will go to the Island Food Pantry in Stonington.

“We are really pleased to give the proceeds to the Island Food Pantry, where every $1 buys $8 of food,” Alden said. “This is a way to really leverage your lobster dollar to help the fishing community here.”

There is no snow date scheduled for the event.

For more information, call Bobbi Billings at 367-2708 or e-mail info@penobscoteast.org.