PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Maine's lobstermen are getting some help from promoters and politicians.
The Maine Lobster Council is airing a new TV commercial aimed at getting more people in Maine to buy lobster. The commercial is part of a special summer and fall effort by the Council to help increase demand for lobster in response to near-record low prices being paid to fishermen.
Meanwhile, Rep. Chellie Pingree is continuing her effort to convince cruise ship companies to load up on live lobster when they dock in Portland. Pingree says she has written to the CEOs of the fifteen cruise ship companies visiting Portland this year, asking them to buy lobster when they visit the city. There are dozens of ship visits scheduled for Portland between now and the end of the season in October.
Meanwhile, a group of business people in Bar Harbor has actually started selling lobster to cruise ships. The local people worked with the Cruise Maine Coalition to contact Holland America Cruise Lines, and Paul Paradis of Paradis Hardware says the first lobsters will be loaded on a ship in Bar Harbor this Friday.
The Maine Lobster Council says cruise ships are already a big customer for Maine lobster, but most of what they buy is frozen processed meat and lobster tails. The goal of the efforts in both Bar Harbor and Portland is to have the ships buy live lobster, which could help reduce the current over-supply of lobster in the marketplace.
NEWS CENTER