CLAWING BACK OUT

New England lobster businesses seek relief

When Canada negotiated a new trade agreement with Europe several years ago, Vince Mortillaro, the owner of Mortillaro Lobster in Gloucester, made a business decision.

No longer able to compete on price in Europe with the non-taxed Canadian lobster, he turned to the Asian market — specifically China.

“We went in hard and we grew our business drastically, but then they implemented the tariffs. It’s a pretty hard pill to swallow,” he told legislators Tuesday.

Mortillaro now expects to lose 30% of his lobster sales this year, turning a $40 million wholesale lobster company, which he said has been responsible for buying one-third of all lobster landed in the port of Gloucester, into a significantly smaller operation.

Retaliatory tariffs placed by China on U.S. seafood exports as part of an ongoing trade war between the two countries is taking a hard toll on the Massachusetts lobster industry, experts and practitioners explained on Tuesday. The impact is not only being felt by lobstermen and lobsterwomen, but by wholesalers, processing plants and even steel companies that make lobster traps.

Their testimony was heard by the Joint Committee on Export Development, which is exploring whether there’s anything the state can do to help an industry sinking under the weight of Chinese tariffs.

Rep. Lori Ehrlich of Marbleheard and Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston cochair the committee and said their goal Tuesday was to elevate the plight of the lobster industry while looking for ways to help.

“We’ll be trying to figure out how we can get the ear of the federal government for them and also see what we can do here in Massachusetts,” Ehrlich said.