WEBVTT - Why Is Lobster So Expensive?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel Bomb. Here in US, lobsters sold for ten

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<v Speaker 1>to twelve dollars a pound, a price range that reflects

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<v Speaker 1>lobster being a luxury in our minds and culture. It's

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<v Speaker 1>on the menu at fine dining restaurants, in pricey steakhouses,

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<v Speaker 1>and in the best New England summer shacks and sandwich shops.

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<v Speaker 1>A lobster role can sell for as much as seventy dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>But lobster hasn't always been expensive, and current political and

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<v Speaker 1>trade policies are not only changing its prices, they're hurting

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<v Speaker 1>the US lobster business a long term it may impact

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<v Speaker 1>how we even think about the lobster itself. Back in

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<v Speaker 1>the seventeenth century, when America was still a bunch of colonies,

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<v Speaker 1>colonists wrote about lobsters in the New England area weighing

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen to twenty five pounds that's seven to just over

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<v Speaker 1>eleven kilograms. Some of the largest weighed twice that and

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<v Speaker 1>grew four to six feet that's one to two meters long.

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<v Speaker 1>And there were so many lobsters that there claims that

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<v Speaker 1>the shellfish would wash up knee deep on Massachusetts shores.

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<v Speaker 1>Lobster was so abundant it wasn't worth anything. Really. Colonists

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<v Speaker 1>considered lobster cheap eats. It's what you'd eat when there

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<v Speaker 1>was nothing else and you didn't want to starve. It

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<v Speaker 1>was foisted off on indentured servants, enslaved people, and prisoners,

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<v Speaker 1>even pigs. Everyone was embarrassed about eating it. Oysters, by

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<v Speaker 1>the way, fell into the same category. Colonists did, however,

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<v Speaker 1>see lobster as a resource. It was plentiful, cheap, and

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<v Speaker 1>they could make money from it by shipping it back

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<v Speaker 1>to Europe. The Dutch had come up with a way

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<v Speaker 1>of transport lobster across the Atlantic and keep it fresh.

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<v Speaker 1>Organized lobster fisheries opened in Maine in the mid eighteen hundreds,

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<v Speaker 1>and lobster canning businesses started and flourished. Near the turn

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<v Speaker 1>of the century, main lobster men were landing more than

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<v Speaker 1>eleven thousand tons of the critters, and lobster wasn't just

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<v Speaker 1>crossing the ocean, but also the nation thanks to the

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<v Speaker 1>railroad industry, onboard dining and inland restaurants, where lobster was

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<v Speaker 1>served to new audiences as a side dish or salon ingredient.

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<v Speaker 1>The experience of dining on a railcar or enjoying seafood

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<v Speaker 1>far from a coast helped turn lobster into a luxury

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<v Speaker 1>day ish. Over fishing at the beginning of the twentieth

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<v Speaker 1>century drove prices up, as did conservation laws in the

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<v Speaker 1>mid twentieth century. Long term, the supply of lobster has

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<v Speaker 1>been going up. Those conservation laws worked, and Maine has

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<v Speaker 1>had a lobster boom that took landings from eighteen million

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<v Speaker 1>pounds that's eight million kilograms in nineteen fifty to nearly

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred and thirty one million pounds or sixty million

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<v Speaker 1>kilograms in twenty sixteen. Main's lobster industry, the largest in

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<v Speaker 1>the United States, contributes one point for billion dollars to

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<v Speaker 1>the state's economy every year. And that's a good thing too,

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<v Speaker 1>because in recent years, lobster industry representatives from Maine have

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<v Speaker 1>built international demand for their products, and China has been

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<v Speaker 1>poised to purchase significant amounts of lobster. In the first

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<v Speaker 1>two quarters of twenty seventeen, China imported thirty nine point

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<v Speaker 1>five million dollars worth of live lobster. The best year

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<v Speaker 1>to date, and between January and June of eighteen, the

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<v Speaker 1>US sold eighty seven million dollars in live lobster to China.

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<v Speaker 1>But the dollar signs that people in Main's lobster industry

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<v Speaker 1>we're seeing finished. After the Trump administration imposed tariffs that

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<v Speaker 1>caused China to retaliate with tariffs of its own, including

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<v Speaker 1>a tariff on US lobster. The impact of the tariffs

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<v Speaker 1>is dramatic. In June, live lobster exports to China topped

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<v Speaker 1>eleven point eight million dollars. In July, the first month

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<v Speaker 1>under the new tariffs, exports to China dropped to four

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<v Speaker 1>point two million dollars, lower than the amount shipped in

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<v Speaker 1>July the year before. The Chinese and Canadians have even

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<v Speaker 1>created a workaround. As Canada's supply goes through its seasonal drop,

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<v Speaker 1>they're buying US lobster and selling it to China. We

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<v Speaker 1>spoke with John Sackton, editor and publisher of Seafood News,

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<v Speaker 1>via email. He said the US lobster industry is at

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<v Speaker 1>an extreme disadvantage with international trade right now, as we

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<v Speaker 1>face tariffs in Europe and China, while the Canadians don't.

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<v Speaker 1>This means the US must look for niche markets like

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<v Speaker 1>Singapore or Korea. With the US supply higher than it's

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<v Speaker 1>ever been and China's demands suddenly dropping to below levels,

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<v Speaker 1>you might think law stir may become painfully abundant and cheap,

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<v Speaker 1>But the U s economy is strong and lobster industry

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<v Speaker 1>experts say there's not only opportunity, but workarounds. Sacton said,

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<v Speaker 1>what is happening to lobster prices is unclear because there

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<v Speaker 1>are many contradictory factors. Maine has lost the ability to

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<v Speaker 1>ship lobsters to China, but on the other hand, demand

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<v Speaker 1>for lobster tail is very strong and these are processed

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<v Speaker 1>in Canada, so there's continued strong demand from processors for

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<v Speaker 1>main lobster. So will we see a shift in the

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<v Speaker 1>price and culture of lobster? Sacton reported that the industry

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<v Speaker 1>was waiting to see how live lobster prices fared over

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<v Speaker 1>the holiday season, and that their strategies might change accordingly.

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<v Speaker 1>But we wonder whether culture is as flexible as the market.

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<v Speaker 1>Would you buy a nick lobster? Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Sean Chavis and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other Wicked Wesson topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>our home planet, how stuff Works dot com