{"id":17307,"date":"2020-01-09T09:43:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T14:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=17307"},"modified":"2020-05-01T11:05:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:05:01","slug":"lobster-noir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/lobster-noir\/","title":{"rendered":"Lobster Noir"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; width: 100%; height: 326px;\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.html?d=wg20_flipbook_for_issuu.com&amp;pageNumber=39&amp;u=portlandmagazine\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The not-so-secret plot to sabotage Maine\u2019s brand.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">By Hannah Zimmerman<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-17330 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WG20-Lobster-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"WG20 Lobster\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WG20-Lobster-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WG20-Lobster-200x120.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/WG20-Lobster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\u201cM<\/span><span class=\"s1\">aine Lobster refers to lobster caught by Maine lobstermen,\u201d says Marianne\u00a0LaCroix, executive director of <strong>Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative<\/strong>. A no-brainer, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">With revenues of $2.6B according to <em>Forbes<\/em>, seafood giant <strong>Red Lobster\u2019s<\/strong> definition of \u201cMaine Lobster\u201d reads, \u201cMaine Lobster, also known as North American Lobster, comes from New England and Canada.\u201d Across the country, Red Lobster menus feature \u201cMaine\u201d in flowing type. It names entrees after Maine towns, such as the \u201cBar Harbor Lobster Bake.\u201d Table salt and pepper grinders picture Portland Head Light. The last two Red Lobster restaurants in Maine closed in 1998. Only four New England locations remain\u2014in Connecticut.<br \/>\n<em>If you ditch Maine as a location for your restaurants, why still brand with our intellectual property?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Oh, that\u2019s why<br \/>\n<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cAccording to data from Technomic, menus featuring \u2018Maine Lobster\u2019 (versus generic lobster) add value up to $7.70 per lobster dish,\u201d says LaCroix. \u201cWhether it\u2019s the sweet flavor, tender texture, or sustainable harvesting methods, <i>Maine<\/i> Lobster has value in the marketplace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>China\u2019s misdirected love for \u201cBoston\u201d lobster<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">For years, Chinese chefs championed Maine lobster as \u201cBoston Lobster.\u201d \u201cChina develops colloquial names for products, and \u2018Boston lobster\u2019 stuck because the first exports always shipped out of Logan airport,\u201d says John Sackton, founder of <strong>SeafoodNews.com<\/strong>. That was B.T. (before tariffs). These days, branding is all the more confused since Canadian lobster is all the rage in Beijing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cDue to the trade war with China and the 25-percent tariff on U.S. goods, we\u2019ve lost a hefty amount of our trade business to the Canadian lobster industry,\u201d says Wade Merritt, president of <strong>Maine International Trade Center<\/strong>. \u201cFrom June 2018 to June 2019, after the duties were in place, overall exports to China tumbled 50 percent, with the biggest slump in live lobster, which dropped 81 percent.\u201d Total all the receipts, \u201cCanada\u2019s lobster sales to China reached record highs,\u201d writes the <i>Washington Post<\/i>. Although China recently cut import tariffs for goods such as frozen pork and pharmaceuticals, \u201clobster is not on the list of over 800 items,\u201d says the MITC.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>They\u2019re even stealing our battles<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Although most lobster shipped to China is now Canadian, \u201cgeneric Chinese fish markets still say \u2018Boston lobster,\u2019\u201d Sackton says. \u201cCanadians are chagrined. They\u2019re working to change the name to North Atlantic lobster.\u201d Yikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>\u201cRiding the wave down\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">If we\u2019re not sending our lobsters to China anymore, where are they going? \u201cThere isn\u2019t a surplus of lobster,\u201d Sackton says. \u201cCatches in Maine are down, so our price of lobster is going up. You have companies like <strong>Greenhead Lobster<\/strong> who developed their business selling lobster to China and had to find alternatives post-tariff. On the other hand, you have other [Maine] companies who didn\u2019t rely as much on the Chinese market. They\u2019ve been able to push sales in the U.S. because of our strong economy and, therefore, good restaurant sales.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A\u00a0<\/span>recent study by two scientists at the <strong>University of Maine<\/strong> predicts the decline in lobster catches will continue in Maine. \u201cThe lobster fishery in Maine was successful and a cultural icon in the 1950s, 80s, and 2000s, when they were down to the levels we\u2019re heading for\u2014around 20 million pounds per year,\u201d says co-author Noah Oppenheim. \u201cThere was an extraordinary jump to 120 million pounds when the hauls peaked around 2015. Predictions in our model indicate we\u2019re going to see a decline that mirrors the 2015 increase. If we ride the wave down, create smart marketing policies, provide good support for the local harvest, I\u2019m certain this industry will be able to weather these declines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe export to 29 different countries,\u201d says Sheila Adams, vice president of sales and marketing for <strong>Maine Coast Lobster<\/strong>. \u201cThe tariff has been challenging because we can\u2019t match our previous volume to mainland China in one place. We\u2019re driving growth in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The Middle East market is starting to mature, too. Hot climates are a factor. Our lobsters like to be cold, 38-42 degrees. Customers need to be able to receive the product with refrigerated trucks and cooler systems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Backstory narratives<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Remember the giddy early days of cellphone scanning? Maine lobster execs suggested a world coming soon where diners would sit in a restaurant, wave their phone over a lobster, and see the source, boat, and lobsterperson who caught it. Why didn\u2019t this marketing protection for Maine lobster ever happen? Have we sabotaged ourselves?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cOur European customers, in particular, are asking us about [software to trace lobsters],\u201d Adams says. \u201cPeople love to be able to see where their food is from. In as little as three to four years, I think there will be more traceability. It would take a long time and be a very big project to get from consumer to boat level, but it\u2019s important. Maine has a lot to be proud of. We have the oldest fishery in North America to be under conservation. We continue to work with Maine Marketing Collaborative on how to define our brand and create recognition. We cannot rest, or our brand will fade. A Maine lobster is one landed by a licensed Maine lobsterman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>But Canada is already tracking lobster!<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Canadian firms like <strong>ThisFish<\/strong> and <strong>Fish, Food, and Allied Workers<\/strong> (FFAW) are carefully tracking their seafood with software. Tags are attached to lobsters. When scanned, they show the name of the fisherman and where the lobster was caught. Why can\u2019t Maine do the same? \u201cUnfortunately, the traceable codes were never used commercially here. It was a great idea, though,\u201d LaCroix says.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>The Gordon Ramsay Effect<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p1\">Not that we can expect any help from Canada. When <em>Portland Monthly<\/em> interviewed chef <strong>Gordon Ramsay<\/strong> and he praised Maine lobster as far superior to Canadian lobster, it irritated our friends to the north. So much so that the article spurred the Canadian government to create a special department charged to defend their lobsters\u2019 brand. In Toronto, <em>The Globe and Mail <\/em>wrote, \u201c\u2026The bad-boy chef\u2019s bad-mouthing of Canada landed him on the cover of <em>Portland Monthly<\/em> (\u201cMaine\u2019s City Magazine\u201d). The headline: Gordon Ramsay Drops the Bomb on Fake Maine Lobster.\u201d The result? \u201cFederal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced, during a meeting with her provincial counterparts, the creation of the <strong>Lobster Council of Canada<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maine\u2019s lobster industry bares its claws.<br \/>\nBy Hannah Zimmerman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[711,710,158,707,708,705,702,703,704,709,706],"class_list":["post-17307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-and-allied-workers","tag-fish","tag-food","tag-greenhead-lobster","tag-maine-coast-lobster","tag-maine-international-trade-center","tag-maine-lobster-marketing-collaborative","tag-red-lobster","tag-seafoodnews-com","tag-thisfish","tag-university-of-maine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17307"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18563,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17307\/revisions\/18563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}