Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Lobstering and Economics


What is lobstering’s economic impact on the United States?

Each year, the United States issues over 25,000 lobster licenses.  American lobster is ranked as the third U.S. fresh/frozen fishery product on the seafood export list.  In 2003, these lobster exports were worth $315,889,000.  In 1999, the largest lobster landings on record was at 87,420,414 pounds, valued at $322,754,058.  By state, Maine is responsible for the largest amount of U.S. landings, contributing to 61%.  Following, Massachusetts is responsible for 18%, Rhode Island for 7%, Connecticut for 3%, New Hampshire for 1%, and all other states combined are responsible for 9%.  In total, the lobster industry has an impact of $.7-1.2 billion on the United Stated economy.  However, coupled with it’s $1.7-2.8 billion impact on Canada’s economy, it has a total impact of $2.4-4.0 billion.  




What type of economic impact does lobstering have industry-wide? 

Annually in the United States and Canada, they have landed about 183,000,000 lobsters.  62% of the landings were contributed by Canada, while 38% by the United States.  It is estimated that for every dollar a lobsterman is paid for a single lobster, about $3-$5 is generated for ancillary businesses.  Of all the catches, only 25% goes to live market, and the other 75% is processed.  Within the 75% of processed catches, Canada controls over 90% of the processed market.  




How does the lobstering industry economically contrast between Maine and Massachusetts? 

Maine’s lobster industry has an estimated $500,000,000 impact on the state economy.  In contrast, Massachusetts has an estimated $246,000,000 impact.  While Maine has a total of 144 lobstering ports in Maine, Massachusetts homes only 52.  This can be accounted for by the difference in the financial impact the industry has on each state.  




How much do lobstermen make each year? 

On average, lobstermen make a salary of about $48,000 per year.  However, these salaries can significantly vary as a result of company, industry, location, experience, and benefits.  When entering the industry, lobsterman must take into account the dangers and risk that this job entails, which has an additional impact on salary depending on whether or not the location is more dangerous than others.  





No comments:

Post a Comment