Lobster market collapse!
Gordon Brown to blame.
"...Faced with high fuel and bait prices, fishermen were able to keep their heads above water with the price at $4 a pound, but the international financial crisis has sent shock waves that were felt in a fault line running from Iceland through Maritime Canada to coastal Maine.
The crisis in Maine is tied directly to the collapse of Icelandic banks which were key lenders to processors in Canada, according to Dane Somers, executive director of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council. Without ready credit from those banks, Canadian processors don't have the cash to purchase lobster from Maine, Somers said."
One day Charlie Stross will write a story about all of this.
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Ah. The lobster lobby in Westminster finally earns its pay.
I wondered how my local grocery store (OK, I'm just down the coast from Maine) could run a multi-day special on lobster at $3.99/lb. Not that I like to eat lobster (for good reasons there used to be laws around here limiting the number of days per week you could feed lobster to your servants).
I had exactly the same experience as Eric. (Are you in Boston, too? Maybe it was the same store...) I figured they must be nearly dead and the store was trying to get rid of them, until I went to another (much more expensive) grocery where they were selling 2-pounders for $11.99. Not $11.99 per pound. $11.99.
I guess now I know why!