Maine Lobstermen's Union Votes to Buy Hancock County Lobster Business | Portside

Maine Lobstermen's Union Votes to Buy Hancock County Lobster Business | Portside

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Purchase of Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound's wholesale operation means lobstermen will have more control over the prices they get for their catch, a spokesman says.

Penelope Overton

Portland Press Herald

February 25, 2017

The Maine Lobstering Union voted Saturday to buy a wholesale lobster business near Mount Desert Island to help its fishermen net a bigger share of the profit in the booming, $1.5 billion-a-year industry.

At a closed-door meeting in Rockport, members voted 63-1 to buy the wholesale side of the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, which includes a tank that can hold up to 180,000 pounds of lobster, for $4 million, said Local 207 President Rocky Alley.

“We can’t wait to start buying and selling our own lobsters,” Alley said. “Right now, fishermen sell at the dock, and we get what we get, with no control. But there is lots of money made off lobsters after they leave the dock, and some ought to stay with us fishermen.”

The vote enables the Maine union to borrow money from a Kansas City bank and to borrow $1.1 million from fellow locals in the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as far south as Maryland to purchase the Lamoine-based wholesale business.

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Winter storm forecast: When they go low, we go high

Before the storm

from the soon to be defunded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Friendship, Maine 04547
Today March 14, 2017

TodaySnow before 5pm, then snow, possibly mixed with sleet. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 32. Windy, with a northeast wind 15 to 20 mph increasing to 25 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.TonightRain, snow, and sleet before 2am, then freezing rain likely between 2am and 3am, then snow likely after 3am. The rain, snow, freezing rain, and sleet could be heavy at times. Areas of blowing snow after 3am. Low around 25. Windy, with a northeast wind 25 to 35 mph becoming north 15 to 25 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.