A crate of fresh lobster, waiting to be sold
This is just a quick update to say that the 2012 Maine lobster fishing season is still going strong. The lobsters did not dry up after Hurricane Sandy or after this last high tide, which was the highest tide of the year. In fact, the fishermen may be on the cusp of another surge of lobsters before the season is through.
The reason I’m predicting this surge is because I just heard from my father that the lobsters Downeast are starting a second shed. This is the first time my father has seen a second shed in a single year. Typically there is only one shed during the Maine lobster fishing season, usually in July. Shortly after this shed the fishermen catch a great deal of hungry, new shell lobsters. Those shedders then harden up through the fall and into the early winter, when the fishermen take up their traps for the season.
I have read that male lobsters shed twice a year so perhaps the second shed happens in the winter. This year, the shedding season came unnaturally early due to the warmer ocean temperature. Fishermen up and down the coast were reporting catching shedders as early as May. Perhaps the entire annual cycle has been thrown off course this year and we are now seeing the winter shed. Watch this space for further updates!
To read more recent updates on the Maine lobster fishing season, click here.
I know there are more lobsters being caught in the summer months in Maine than during the fall, but I'd still love to give it a try.