WEBVTT - Why The Crisis Hurts Maine's Lobster Industry

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day one thirty

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<v Speaker 1>five since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's main story.

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<v Speaker 1>A few places in the US are still relatively unscathed

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<v Speaker 1>by the virus, but they haven't been able to escape

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<v Speaker 1>the economic devastation. Nowhere is that clear than in the

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<v Speaker 1>lobster towns of rural Maine. But first, here's what happened

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<v Speaker 1>in virus students today. Houston joined Dallas and other Texas

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<v Speaker 1>school systems in delaying the start of the school year

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<v Speaker 1>because of the surge of coronavirus cases in the state.

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<v Speaker 1>President Donald Trump canceled the planned Republican Convention events in Jacksonville, Florida,

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<v Speaker 1>another state where cases are raging. The World Health Organization's

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<v Speaker 1>chief scientist, Dr Sonia Swamy Nathan said the world needs

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<v Speaker 1>to gear up against the virus for the next year

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<v Speaker 1>and a half because it will take time to develop

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<v Speaker 1>a vaccine. She urged countries to develop public health measures

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<v Speaker 1>to combat the virus until a vaccine is developed. While

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<v Speaker 1>twenty four candidates are in clinical trials, the success rate

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<v Speaker 1>of an experimental vaccine is normally just ten, which is

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<v Speaker 1>why it's better to have many in development. She also

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<v Speaker 1>said it's possible that no vaccine will work and the

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<v Speaker 1>world should consider that scenario. And finally, Austria tightened up

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<v Speaker 1>mass requirements because of a new surge of rhinovirus cases.

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<v Speaker 1>The rhinovirus, a cause for the common cold, is unrelated

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<v Speaker 1>to the coronavirus, but it spread signals that people are

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<v Speaker 1>not following social distancing in hygiene rules closely. Rhinovirus cases

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<v Speaker 1>had been curbed during the country's lockdown. And now for

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<v Speaker 1>today's main story, the rural town of Stonington, Maine, has

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<v Speaker 1>barely been touched by the novel coronavirus, with cases numbering

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<v Speaker 1>in the tents, but its economic health is another matter.

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<v Speaker 1>The fallout from COVID nineteen is devastating the town's lobster

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<v Speaker 1>workers and the lobster business statewide. Lobster is a huge

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<v Speaker 1>business in Maine, and what's happening in tiny Stonington is

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<v Speaker 1>in a way a smaller version of the whole US economy,

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<v Speaker 1>as may dupri has more on the side. This up

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<v Speaker 1>sitting on the rail and a lobster wants to walk

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<v Speaker 1>out land on my floor. If I'm a lobster I'm

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<v Speaker 1>entering through here, and then the baits sitting right here,

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<v Speaker 1>and then at some point they'll go there. Why am

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<v Speaker 1>I crawling back there? Just because said, look at something new.

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<v Speaker 1>This is what catches them. This is called the kitchen,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is and this is the and they just

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<v Speaker 1>like they just want to go explore and move a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit, so they go back. They keep going in

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<v Speaker 1>and then it's harder for them to get out of

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<v Speaker 1>that section than it is this. And will all these

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<v Speaker 1>traps be in the water eventually? That's me standing outside

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<v Speaker 1>Blaine and Jinny Olsen's house in Stonington, Maine, as they

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<v Speaker 1>explain how a lobster trap works. I probably couldn't have

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<v Speaker 1>found more appropriate instructors. Blaine and Jinny have been married

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<v Speaker 1>for twenty five years and work side by side on

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<v Speaker 1>their boat Virginia. Don Blaine has been lobster fishing the

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<v Speaker 1>cold Atlantic quaters here since he was fourteen years old.

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<v Speaker 1>He's now fifty three and has a tidy white mustache

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<v Speaker 1>and a bigger belly than he did pre quarantine. Jinny

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<v Speaker 1>is forty six and a fourth generation lobster fisher. Their

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<v Speaker 1>two year old son, Devon, used to lobster too. But

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<v Speaker 1>he's been smart vision he took a job bout McCloy.

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<v Speaker 1>I hope. I don't know what's gonna happen. Blame that

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<v Speaker 1>uncertainty on the novel coronavirus. But it's not that the

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<v Speaker 1>virus itself has hit hard here in this corner of

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<v Speaker 1>rural downeas Maine. In fact, it's barely touched. The public

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<v Speaker 1>health Hancock County had reported just twenty one cases and

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<v Speaker 1>one death as of earlier this week. Instead, it's the

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<v Speaker 1>area's economic health that's hurting. The fallout from COVID nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>threatens a historically bad year for the Olsen's and the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of the state's lobster industry, And in Maine, lobsters

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<v Speaker 1>are a big deal, so it has a ripple effect

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the whole community. When lobster was god a bad year.

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<v Speaker 1>The biggest problem is lack of demand. Most consumers eat

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<v Speaker 1>the crustaceans at restaurants and a board cruise ships, and those,

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<v Speaker 1>of course have been shuttered for months and slow to

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<v Speaker 1>reopen when they do. Infection prevention protocols have cut capacity

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<v Speaker 1>at processing plants where workers pick out meat destined for

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<v Speaker 1>lobster rolls, and lobster stew, and the drop in air

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<v Speaker 1>traffic has snarled the logistics of shipping live creatures. The

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<v Speaker 1>result is that lobster fishers like the Ulsan's are getting

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<v Speaker 1>paid to pittance for their catch. The doc price was

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<v Speaker 1>two dollars and fifty cents a pound last week for

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<v Speaker 1>soft shell lobsters here. That's about half what it was

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<v Speaker 1>a year ago and makes it virtually impossible to earn

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<v Speaker 1>a profit by catching lobster. Hopes for recovery anytime soon

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<v Speaker 1>are dim in the summertime, on average at cassis to

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<v Speaker 1>dollars a pound, you get a catch to crate some

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<v Speaker 1>lobsters just to pay a build h and then after

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<v Speaker 1>that we stopped making money. Last summer was terrible. We

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<v Speaker 1>had we averaged fifty five that our price was four

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<v Speaker 1>dollars and up. That helped last year price, but this

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<v Speaker 1>year has been be a different story. You don't have

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<v Speaker 1>the tourism market, you don't have the exports because of

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<v Speaker 1>the tariffs and COVID, and you don't have the processes

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<v Speaker 1>because of COVID, and then i'll mixes together and equals

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<v Speaker 1>what a low price devastating. The low price lobstering is

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<v Speaker 1>America's most lucrative marine fishery, and Stonington, Maine, is the

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<v Speaker 1>capitol of American Lobster comes from Maine, and more so

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<v Speaker 1>than anywhere else Maine, lobster comes from the waters around Stonington.

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<v Speaker 1>Lobsterman in this county hauled almost a third of the

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<v Speaker 1>one d one million pounds landed statewide last year, worth

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred and eighty five million dollars. The industry has

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<v Speaker 1>been trying to mitigate the economic damage of low prices

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<v Speaker 1>and low demand. One technique is simply don't fish or

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<v Speaker 1>fish a lot less to prevent abundant supply from causing

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<v Speaker 1>further price declines. Take a drive around Stonington's in the

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<v Speaker 1>nearby town of Darisle, and you see a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>lobster traps stacked dry in people's yards. In a typical year,

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<v Speaker 1>those traps would be sitting on the bottom of the

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<v Speaker 1>ocean floor by now, you know, usually when we go

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<v Speaker 1>to set. But there's a bunch of traps already in

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<v Speaker 1>an area where we sat, and right now it's still

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<v Speaker 1>pretty open. It's just like today. When I went out

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<v Speaker 1>to the cow, I was expecting to see a ton

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<v Speaker 1>of trap okay, and that wasn't those big boats. They

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<v Speaker 1>can't make it. Okay, okay, they got three men plus

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<v Speaker 1>a captain. When the lobster industry suffers, the pain ripples

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the local economy. The Olsen's won't hire carpenters to

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<v Speaker 1>remodel their kitchen or in us to new lobster traps.

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<v Speaker 1>This year, they didn't even refresh their booies with day

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<v Speaker 1>globe paint. They opted to buy regular paint instead because

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<v Speaker 1>it was cheaper. So it means that you don't go

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<v Speaker 1>out to eat. It means that you don't buy a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of new clothes this year. Like we wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>get more new traps this year, that won't happen. So

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<v Speaker 1>anything that is not a necessity will not happen this year.

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<v Speaker 1>This year will be a bare bones municipal services here

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<v Speaker 1>run on lobster revenue. If our lobster industry ceases to exist,

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<v Speaker 1>then this town really there won't be no school, there

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<v Speaker 1>won't be no town office, won't be no road troup.

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<v Speaker 1>What's happening in the lobster industry is a microcosm of

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<v Speaker 1>what's happening in the global economy. In the age of

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<v Speaker 1>COVID nineteen at least the meat still tastes good. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>feel you'll eat these all nights to If we have

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<v Speaker 1>any left overall, we'll have tomorrow and I'll just have

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<v Speaker 1>a nice That was as Ma Dupre. And that's it

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<v Speaker 1>for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from

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<v Speaker 1>one bureaus around the world, visit bloomberg dot com slash

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us

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<v Speaker 1>a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the best way to help more listeners find our

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<v Speaker 1>global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Toph

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<v Speaker 1>foreheads Jordan Gaspoure, Magnus Henrickson, and mat Loura Carlson. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>main story was reported by Esme Dupre, original music by

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<v Speaker 1>Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesca Levi.

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<v Speaker 1>Francesca Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>H