I was lucky enough to have a really informative visitor to my Law of the Sea class last week-- the Executive Director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, Patrice McCarron. She spoke to us about many of the specifically legal challenges they have faced, of course, such as the battle over floating ground lines, and the like-- but she also mentioned the general price depression in lobster that is negatively affecting the 10,000+ Maine families that depend on lobstering for a living. I have to admit that my awareness of the problem has been low, given that most of this semester a) I've been so busy Otis has been preparing most of the meals, and b) lobster is usually too expensive to be on the frequent rotation in our household. But unfortunately, one of the problems facing the industry is that because of the overall bad economic situation, the demand for lobster has dropped, which has also depressed prices significantly. This is good for consumers in the short term, but terrible in the long term, because it makes the fishery simply unsustainable for the individuals who depend on it. Plus, it's bad for Maine in general, because part of our very identity relies on the lobstering industry!

(Obviously I am not an economist-- this is just my understanding of the situation. One of the main problems is that because of credit is not flowing, the processors who process the lobster that is not sold live here in Maine can't extend credit to the lobsterman, which in turn depresses prices further. Also, many of the Canadian processors have been banking in Iceland, which makes things all the worse.)

So, to sum up, in the meantime while all this economy stuff gets resolved (hopefully...) we should all do our parts to support our Maine lobstermen by buying some lobster, and eating it in delicious and creative meals. I'm thinking angel hair pasta with some sort of lobster-sherry cream sauce for this weekend. I should mention that lobster is also super good for you, with low fat and cholesterol. That might be undermined with cream sauce, but so be it.

Or, if you don't feel like cooking, I got a press release this morning telling me that a bunch of local restaurants, including Gritty's, are featuring lobster on the menu. I'm personally quite partial to lobster Benedict as well, which I know you can often get at the Porthole on Sundays as a special at brunch.

Eat some darn Maine lobster, people. OK? I'll stop bugging you about it.

Oh yeah, and GO VOTE!!

(Edited to add that Plating Up has some yummy looking lobster recipes.)