Maine Lobster Dealers, Wholesalers Adapt To Changing Market

ROCKPORT — The middle stages of the supply chain for Maine lobster, how product gets between the wharf and its final destination in the live or processed market, are complicated and difficult to track.

“I think one of the most amazing things about this industry is that every single lobster that is landed is bought and sold,” said Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers Association. “Whether 300 pounds or 3,000 pounds, all of those lobsters are bought. We don’t turn people away at the wharf.”

A local co-op or private wharf on its own would struggle to reach new or distant markets, or to ship cost effectively, she said. “That’s why they [wholesalers] exist, to be able to access those bigger markets. They want to be shipping volume, want to make sure your product gets there as fast as it can” and in good condition, she said. “It’s not like the potato industry. There are no previously arranged relationships. It’s a complicated supply chain. Storage and shipping is labor-intensive, cost-intensive work.”

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Mount Desert Islander