It may be summer, but Maine's lobster industry is still feeling the effects of last winter.
Ocean temperatures took so long to warm up after the winter, that lobsters are shedding later than usual, delaying the season and limiting the catch. The decrease in supply has increased prices.
"It's going to be more of a traditional year," said lobster dealer Vincent Clough, from Bayley's lobster pound in Scarborough, Maine.
Right now, Bayley's is paying lobstermen between $4 and $6 per pound, and selling to consumers for $7.99 to $10.99 per pound, a price increase of about $1-$2 from last year.
"You're going to pay what the market price is," said customer Steve Pomerleau. "It fluctuates. We realize that."
Oceanographers predict the season will pick up in a few weeks, but it is later than in previous years.
"We're actually predicting we'll be about two weeks late, so that means we won't see the fishery start to pick up until later in July," said Oceanogapher Andrew Pershing of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
