The not-so-secret plot to sabotage Maine’s brand.

By Hannah Zimmerman

“Maine Lobster refers to lobster caught by Maine lobstermen,” says Marianne LaCroix, executive director of Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. A no-brainer, right?

With revenues of $2.6B according to Forbes, seafood giant Red Lobster’s definition of “Maine Lobster” reads, “Maine Lobster, also known as North American Lobster, comes from New England and Canada.” Across the country, Red Lobster menus feature “Maine” in flowing type. It names entrees after Maine towns, such as the “Bar Harbor Lobster Bake.” Table salt and pepper grinders picture Portland Head Light. The last two Red Lobster restaurants in Maine closed in 1998. Only four New England locations remain—in Connecticut.
If you ditch Maine as a location for your restaurants, why still brand with our intellectual property?

Oh, that’s why

“According to data from Technomic, menus featuring ‘Maine Lobster’ (versus generic lobster) add value up to $7.70 per lobster dish,” says LaCroix. “Whether it’s the sweet flavor, tender texture, or sustainable harvesting methods, Maine Lobster has value in the marketplace.”

China’s misdirected love for “Boston” lobster

For years, Chinese chefs championed Maine lobster as “Boston Lobster.” “China develops colloquial names for products, and ‘Boston lobster’ stuck because the first exports always shipped out of Logan airport,” says John Sackton, founder of SeafoodNews.com. That was B.T. (before tariffs). These days, branding is all the more confused since Canadian lobster is all the rage in Beijing.

“Due to the trade war with China and the 25-percent tariff on U.S. goods, we’ve lost a hefty amount of our trade business to the Canadian lobster industry,” says Wade Merritt, president of Maine International Trade Center. “From June 2018 to June 2019, after the duties were in place, overall exports to China tumbled 50 percent, with the biggest slump in live lobster, which dropped 81 percent.” Total all the receipts, “Canada’s lobster sales to China reached record highs,” writes the Washington Post. Although China recently cut import tariffs for goods such as frozen pork and pharmaceuticals, “lobster is not on the list of over 800 items,” says the MITC.

They’re even stealing our battles

Although most lobster shipped to China is now Canadian, “generic Chinese fish markets still say ‘Boston lobster,’” Sackton says. “Canadians are chagrined. They’re working to change the name to North Atlantic lobster.” Yikes.

“Riding the wave down”

If we’re not sending our lobsters to China anymore, where are they going? “There isn’t a surplus of lobster,” Sackton says. “Catches in Maine are down, so our price of lobster is going up. You have companies like Greenhead Lobster who developed their business selling lobster to China and had to find alternatives post-tariff. On the other hand, you have other [Maine] companies who didn’t rely as much on the Chinese market. They’ve been able to push sales in the U.S. because of our strong economy and, therefore, good restaurant sales.”

A recent study by two scientists at the University of Maine predicts the decline in lobster catches will continue in Maine. “The lobster fishery in Maine was successful and a cultural icon in the 1950s, 80s, and 2000s, when they were down to the levels we’re heading for—around 20 million pounds per year,” says co-author Noah Oppenheim. “There was an extraordinary jump to 120 million pounds when the hauls peaked around 2015. Predictions in our model indicate we’re going to see a decline that mirrors the 2015 increase. If we ride the wave down, create smart marketing policies, provide good support for the local harvest, I’m certain this industry will be able to weather these declines.”

“We export to 29 different countries,” says Sheila Adams, vice president of sales and marketing for Maine Coast Lobster. “The tariff has been challenging because we can’t match our previous volume to mainland China in one place. We’re driving growth in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The Middle East market is starting to mature, too. Hot climates are a factor. Our lobsters like to be cold, 38-42 degrees. Customers need to be able to receive the product with refrigerated trucks and cooler systems.”

Backstory narratives

Remember the giddy early days of cellphone scanning? Maine lobster execs suggested a world coming soon where diners would sit in a restaurant, wave their phone over a lobster, and see the source, boat, and lobsterperson who caught it. Why didn’t this marketing protection for Maine lobster ever happen? Have we sabotaged ourselves?  “Our European customers, in particular, are asking us about [software to trace lobsters],” Adams says. “People love to be able to see where their food is from. In as little as three to four years, I think there will be more traceability. It would take a long time and be a very big project to get from consumer to boat level, but it’s important. Maine has a lot to be proud of. We have the oldest fishery in North America to be under conservation. We continue to work with Maine Marketing Collaborative on how to define our brand and create recognition. We cannot rest, or our brand will fade. A Maine lobster is one landed by a licensed Maine lobsterman.”

But Canada is already tracking lobster!

Canadian firms like ThisFish and Fish, Food, and Allied Workers (FFAW) are carefully tracking their seafood with software. Tags are attached to lobsters. When scanned, they show the name of the fisherman and where the lobster was caught. Why can’t Maine do the same? “Unfortunately, the traceable codes were never used commercially here. It was a great idea, though,” LaCroix says.

The Gordon Ramsay Effect

Not that we can expect any help from Canada. When Portland Monthly interviewed chef Gordon Ramsay and he praised Maine lobster as far superior to Canadian lobster, it irritated our friends to the north. So much so that the article spurred the Canadian government to create a special department charged to defend their lobsters’ brand. In Toronto, The Globe and Mail wrote, “…The bad-boy chef’s bad-mouthing of Canada landed him on the cover of Portland Monthly (“Maine’s City Magazine”). The headline: Gordon Ramsay Drops the Bomb on Fake Maine Lobster.” The result? “Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced, during a meeting with her provincial counterparts, the creation of the Lobster Council of Canada.”