PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Chad Coffin has spent the coronavirus pandemic just like in previous decades: on the mudflats of Maine, after the mussels that pull tourists to seafood huts around New England.
But he has a problem: few mussels.
“There just weren’t the mussels,” Coffin said. “I do not want to be negative, but just try to be realistic.”
This is a well-known problem that the clamdiggers of New England are experiencing. More New Englanders have been digging the tidal mud flats over the past year, but the mussels are not working together.
The coronavirus pandemic has inspired more people in the northeastern states, especially Maine and Massachusetts, to dig for soft shell mussels, also called ‘steam’, which has been used for generations to make soups and fried mussels. The era of social distance during the coronavirus pandemic is conducive to the often lonely work, said Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association, which represents commercial clammers.
However, U.S. mussels have declined in recent years as the industry has struggled with predators that ate with mussels and the hot water, and 2020 and early 2021 were particularly difficult, industry members said.
In Maine, the largest mussel-producing state, by 2020, fishermen had produced their lowest speed in more than 90 years at just over 1.3 million pounds. Nationwide totals have not yet been compiled, but Maine’s cruises typically account for more than half of the U.S. total. , and fishing efforts in other junk states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York have been declining in recent years.
The lack of mussels has contributed to higher prices for consumers, Coffin said. It has also raised fears that future generations of mussels will be even smaller, he said.
“Some of the guys who are clapping are making good money now, but they’re basically selling their future,” Coffin said. “The resource is still declining.”
The clamping industry has had to contend with more marine mussels such as green crabs and milky worms in recent years. Scientists said the predators were encouraged by the warm waters of important habitats, such as the Gulf of Maine, which is one of the fastest warm waters in the world.
The shortage of mussels coincided with a time of great demand for mussels, which contributed to raising prices. Mussels regularly sell for about $ 7 a pound in retail, which is about 40% more than normal and a surprisingly high number for spring, Coffin said. The demand for mussels is usually greatest in the summer.
Soft shell mussels were the second most valuable species, after crayfish, last year in Maine, according to state records. The mussels were worth about $ 15.7 million on the docks, a competitive total with recent years, and $ 2.39 per pound, which was the second highest figure in recorded history.
Prices are rising due to factors such as interest in local food during the pandemic and a limited supply of mussels on the market, says Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine in Machias, whose research focuses on skulpvis. The price push is nice in the short term for clam poachers, but the long-term problems are a major threat to the fishery, he said.
“It’s interesting that the demand for soft shell mussels still exists, and that the demand drives the price, and that it leads people to go and get mussels,” Beal said. “We still have to look at the historical trends. One way to look at them is that they were the lowest in a long time. ‘
The lack of mussels was a problem for commercial and recreational facilities. The predator crabs, which originated in Europe, are also a problem for hobby staples on Cape Cod, said John Townes, president of the Barnstable Association for Recreational Shellfishing.
“They are a terrible invasive species,” he said. “They are big predators.”