A summer visitor asked a waitress in Kittery if it was all right to eat a new-shell lobster. She explained that the new-shells contain more water, but they are tender, tasty and easy to crack open. Her information had come from a leaflet sent by the Maine Lobster Promotion Council.

Doctors used to warn patients against eating lobster because they thought it was high in cholesterol. The council, working with the National Heart Association, spread the word that lobsters are actually low in both cholesterol and saturated fat, beating pork, beef and even chicken. People now know that lobster is truly the ultimate white meat.

When animal-rights protesters told people at the Rockland Lobster Festival that steaming or boiling live lobsters was inhumane, the Lobster Council distributed a fact sheet showing that a lobster’s nervous system is about like that of a grasshopper and has no pain sensors.

Seafood buyers at the Boston Seafood Show last year learned from a council demonstration that flash-frozen lobster meat tastes as good as the fresh product.

Restaurateurs in Paris, Madrid and Tokyo have learned how much better Maine lobster is than those lobster tails from Australia or South Africa by sampling it and hearing Council presentations at big international food shows.

All this and a lot more comes out of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, established in 1991 and still financed mainly through annual fees of $25 for harvesters and $200 for dealers. Its modest budget of $345,000 compares with $12 million for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, $120 million for the beef industry, $56 million for the National Pork Producers Council and $2 million for the Catfish Institute.

The Maine Lobster Promotion Council now comes up for reauthorization. A bill introduced by Rep. David Etnier, Democrat of Harpswell, is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday in the Elks Lodge in Augusta. It would extend the council’s life to 2003 and increase the license surcharge by $25 across the board.

Lobstermen have mostly gained respect for the council, and five industry associations support reauthorization. They also support the fee increase except for the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association, which would prefer to see the surcharge doubled for dealers as well as harvesters.

The lobster industry contributes a half billion dollars a year to the Maine economy. Lobster landings have more than doubled from 28 million pounds in 1990 to 56.7 million pounds in 2000. The boat price of Maine lobsters also has increased, despite the fact that greater supply usually means a price drop.

The Lobster Council has quote a list of “missed opportunities” – things it hasn’t been able to afford. Perhaps the best example is radio advertising, which was effective for a couple of years in spreading the word about the taste and magic of Maine lobster but had to be abandoned for lack of funds. Promotion and marketing normally cost 3 to 10 percent of sales. In the Maine lobster industry, the ratio is less than 1 percent.

The Legislature will do well to extend the council’s life and increase its resources, so that it can do even better at its job of promoting the finest and most nutritious protein product in the world.