With the price of lobster at rock bottom levels and winter coming on, lobstermen have begun moving their gear ashore before bad weather sets in.—STAFF PHOTO BY STEPHEN RAPPAPORT

While there haven’t been any signs of big conservation organizations pitching in, it seems like almost everyone else is trying to come to the rescue of the embattled Maine lobster industry.

The boat price for lobster remains low. While some independent fishermen have been able to get as much as $3.15 per pound from a handful of small dealers, the boat price for most of Maine’s lobstermen remains in the $2.25 to $2.50 range.

With the price that low, fishermen remain desperate to sell the lobsters they catch, and they have been getting some help. Two weeks ago, the Maine Lobster Promotion Council kicked off a campaign throughout New England to get consumers to eat more lobster. That effort got a huge boost from regional supermarket chains, including Shaw’s and Hannaford, which have been selling thousands of pounds of live lobsters at prices as low as $4.99 per pound and restaurant chains such as Weathervane Seafood, which has offered special lobster promotions in its 16 establishments.

Another effort to help Maine lobstermen came from Lobster Gram, one of the largest Internet marketers of live lobster. Working with The Lobster Institute of the University of Maine, the Chicago-based company has been offering a bargain sale of live lobsters on its Web site. Lobster Gram ships its live lobster all over the United States from its warehouse in Biddeford and has its corporate offices in Chicago

The company is currently offering its namesake “Lobster Gram” live lobster package for discounts of up to 50 percent. Additionally, it has agreed to contribute a portion of the proceeds from the bailout sale to help support the sustainability efforts of the Lobster Institute.

“Just like the big banks, lobster fishermen and their families are in trouble because of our weak economy. The boat price a lobsterman gets for his lobster has nose-dived in the last few weeks,” Dan “the Lobster Man” Zawacki, chairman and founder of Lobster Gram, said in a statement released by the Lobster Institute. “We want to help the lobster industry by helping them move some lobsters and then pass the savings on to our customers. The lobstermen are our friends, and we want to help them.”

The company’s promotional efforts have borne fruit, according to Robert Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute.

“That’s going pretty well,” Bayer said on Tuesday. “They’ve moved a lot of lobster.”

They aren’t alone. According to Bayer, Maine lobster dealers have been traveling throughout the United States and even overseas trying to sell more lobsters.

“Right now, everyone is out beating the bushes,” Bayer said.

All of those efforts are showing some results, but the silver lining the market clouds appears to be plate, not sterling.

“The live market is definitely stronger with the promotions,” Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-op General Manager Mark Nighman said this week. “There’s plenty of demand at the low prices, but it will fade pretty quick as it inches up.”

Another factor bolstering demand is the season. Many lobstermen have taken much or all of their gear out of the water until the spring, and recent storms have also reduced lobser landings.

“This weekend, they will be in demand because of the weather, but it won’t necessarily drive the price up,” Nighman said.

It isn’t only supermarkets and restaurants that are trying to help worried lobstermen. Last week, Grundens, the Norwegian manufacturer of foul weather gear almost universally used by Maine lobstermen, and Hamilton Marine, the state’s biggest supplier of marine gear, announced that it would donate half the proceeds from sales of the company’s popular “Eat Lobster” T-shirt to the Maine Fishermen’s Forum.

While much of the current effort is directed toward selling more lobsters and selling them right now, some longer-term efforts are under way to bolster the state’s lobster industry.

Last week, Governor John Baldacci established an eight-member Task Force on the Economic Sustainability of Maine’s Lobster Industry. Its mission, according to the announcement of the task force’s creation, is to “make a comprehensive review of Maine’s lobster industry and recommend to the Governor and Legislature no later than April 15, 2009, specific strategies to help maintain the viability of the lobster industry in Maine.”

Earlier this month, Baldacci ordered several state agencies to work examine financial issues having an impact on lobster industry businesses and families. The Department of Economic and Community Development, Department of Marine Resources, and the Finance Authority of Maine have begun meeting with financial institutions and agencies in an effort to bring relief to the hard-pressed lobstermen.

After meeting with lobster industry representatives, Baldacci determined that a broader strategy was needed to address the challenges to Maine’s lobster industry.

“The lobster industry — including the fishermen, dealers, processors and associated businesses — is absolutely crucial to Maine’s economy and heritage,” Baldacci said in announcing his action. “We must make a thorough review of the industry in light of the current global economic, financial and energy challenges in order to ensure its long-term sustainability.”

That’s a tall order, and of little comfort to lobstermen who are worried about how they and their families will make it through the winter. One problem confronting the task force is that there is little consensus within the lobster industry about what needs to be done.

Currently, some 60 to 70 percent of Maine’s lobster landings are sold to processors in Canada. With that kind of buying power, the processors are largely able to determine the price fishermen get for their lobsters.

Many in the industry, like Nighman, believe that one solution is to increase the amount of processing done in Maine. Currently, only a handful of companies process lobster in the state.

“The huge majority of lobster meat from Canada, they buy from us,” Nighman said. “It’s like lumber. We send the trees to Canada, the turn them into lumber and sell it back to us. We need to be processing here and keep the jobs here.”

That opinion isn’t unanimous, though. Bayer said the lobster industry might be better off letting the Canadians keep the processing business.

“There’s a lot of talk about adding processing in Maine,” Bayer said. “I think we’re better off to work with the Canadian processors. It’s a seasonal business and they know how to manage their labor. It would be difficult to get geared up for that in Maine.”

More in-state processing isn’t the only idea that the lobster industry is batting around. Some are suggesting that Maine adopt some sort of seasonal closure of the lobster fishery with an eye both to increasing demand for lobsters by reducing the supply, and improving the quality of the lobsters landed in Maine.

One problem with the Maine lobster fishery is that a huge proportion of the landings consist of soft shell lobsters. The “new shell” animals are harder to store and ship, and generally yield less meat than hardshell lobsters. According to Nighman, all of those factors drive down the price that processors are willing to pay.

While seasonal closures might result in more landings of a better product, the idea isn’t without its problems. A system of rolling closures, with different parts of the coast closed at different times of years, could cost dealers their market. Lobstermen would also have to readjust their business operations to deal with a period during the year when they couldn’t earn income from fishing.

Currently, Canada uses a system of seasonal area closures to manage its lobster fishery, and that could complicate the lobster market situation even further. Two of the most productive closed areas, one in the Bay of Fundy, the other off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia, are about to open at the beginning of December and Canadian lobstermen don’t know what awaits them.

“That’s a lot of lobsters,” Bayer said. “They’re worried about their opening price.”