Lobster business hoping for stability

Trade wars in Trump era led to uncertainty

PORTLAND, Maine — President Donald Trump positioned himself as a friend of New England’s lobstermen, but members of the industry said they are looking forward to more stability.

Trump’s trade war with China led to a rocky few years for the industry, which is based mostly in Maine. Trump, who campaigned hard in Maine and won an electoral vote in the state, touted economic aid and environmental reforms intended to benefit the business. The Republican Party even had Maine lobsterman Jason Joyce speak at its national convention.

What the industry really needs is assurance that it will be able to sell lobsters to other countries without punitive tariffs, said Stephanie Nadeau, owner of The Lobster Company, an Arundel, Maine, dealer. She and others said they are hopeful that assurance will arrive under Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

“You can’t plan. You can’t live in chaos,” she said. “The trade war, was it going to last a week, was it going to last a month, was it going to last four years? How do you operate around that?”

The impending presidency of Biden represents a chance at steadiness, said John Sackton, a longtime industry analyst and founder of SeafoodNews. com.

“I think Biden, by taking people back to more normalcy and tackling the virus, could potentially put things back to normal, which would be very favorable for the U.S. industry,” he said.

Trump’s administration boasted of environmental policies that it said benefited lobstermen.

One environmental issue facing lobstermen is the threat of new protections for rare North Atlantic right whales. The whales are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

Maine’s lobstermen are willing to work with any administration on the new rules, said Kristan Porter, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. It is impossible to know, he said, whether the rollout of rules will be affected by the change in administration.

“It’s way too early to tell,” he said.

Robert F. Bukaty The Associated Press Stephanie Nadeau, owner of The Lobster Company, holds a lobster Nov. 18 at her shipping facility in Arundel, Maine. Nadeau said the lobster industry needs assurance that it’ll be able to sell lobsters to other countries without punitive tariffs.