Lobster: Ending the shell game

By David Hench, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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	Associated Press Photo A lighthouse and a cooked lobster appear on the Maine tag. Dealers are being asked to affix the tags to exported lobsters. Officials hope that, in time, the tagging program will help earn a premium price for Maine lobsters.
	Associated Press Photo by Robert F. Bukaty A lobster displayed at a news conference Monday in Portland wears a plastic tag with a new "Certified Maine Lobster" logo. '
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Maine lobster is a big draw at Dixie Crossroads seafood restaurant on Florida's east coast.

"Our people seem to prefer the Maine lobster," Laurilee Thompson, an owner of the restaurant, said Monday by telephone. "They definitely have a distinctive taste. The Maine lobster is sweeter."

The testimonial is just what the Maine Lobster Promotion Council is hoping for. But it's the next part that stings.

"In the wintertime, we use Canadian lobster," said Thompson, guessing that Maine's winter weather is too fierce for lobstermen to fish the coast.

Maine's lobster-exporting industry hopes to unmask "imposters" such as those from Canada and strengthen the Maine brand by using tags that read "Certified Maine Lobster."

"It's a consumer-protection, truth-in-advertising initiative," said Kristin Millar, executive director of the Lobster Promotion Council. "Our research shows consumers prefer Maine lobster, and we're simply giving it to them."

Dealers who sell outside the state are being asked to tag the lobsters by using claw bands and special white plastic tags, both of which bear the new logo. Supporters hope the labels will come to denote lobsters from Maine and all the positive associations that go with it, such as the pristine coastline.

Currently, there's no way for a customer in the Midwest, South or anywhere else in the world to be sure they're getting the real deal, instead of a lobster caught in some other Northeastern state or in one of Canada's Maritime Provinces.

That dilutes the value of the Maine brand, something the tagging program is trying to reclaim, Millar said.

"People pay for brands," she said. "Branded products are marketed differently than commodity products."

As it is, 65 percent of Maine lobsters are shipped to Canada for processing, she said. Only a fraction are exported to restaurants and stores outside the state.

Once the Certified Maine Lobster program is under way, with dealers voluntarily affixing the tags to exported lobsters, the promotion council will launch an education and marketing campaign aimed at stores and restaurant chefs, pushing the value of selling certified Maine lobster. Millar was on her way to California to a meeting of chain restaurants to encourage adding Maine lobsters to the menu.

Millar conceded there's no way to enforce the brand, to prevent shady outfits from falsely proclaiming they serve Maine lobsters, but she is hopeful that consumers will demand the authentic product.

It's not just whole lobsters. Processed lobster products are often sold as Maine lobster when there's no evidence to support that, Millar said.

The branding program is being launched now, but its real importance will come in the fall. The soft-shell lobsters that are now being sold statewide to the influx of summer tourists will become hard-shells that can be shipped greater distances, said Pete McAleney, owner of New Meadows Lobster on Portland Pier.

That's when McAleney and the promotion council hope Maine lobsters can fetch the premium they deserve.

"We have to develop those markets, for when the people in Maine don't want them," said McAleney, who participated in a news conference Monday with Millar and Gov. John Baldacci to promote the new program.

More than 65 million pounds of lobster were landed in Maine in 2005, worth more than $296 million.

Right now, lobster from Maine doesn't cost any more than lobster from elsewhere, but supporters hope that in time the Certified Maine Lobster program will lead to a premium price for Maine lobsters.

"I have some customers already asking for Maine banded lobster," McAleney said.

What makes a certified Maine lobster in a state where being a native requires a well-rooted family tree? It's more about the catcher than the catchee.

"Every lobster landed by a licensed Maine harvester and sold by a licensed Maine dealer is a certified Maine lobster," Millar said.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at: