After an hour of discussion, Patrick Keliher, Department of Marine Resources Commissioner asked a crowd of approximately 50 lobstermen a simple question.

He asked if the prior year, in which there were record catches but low boat prices, warranted any changes.

Not a single hand was raised.

The DMR had a public discussion Tuesday, Jan. 22 to discuss 2012 and the overall health of what Keliher called the backbone of Maine's economy.

The crowd echoed lobsterman Chuck Plummer, who compared the current situation to the real estate bubble and stressed patience before making any decisions.

“That's what this business is: catch as many lobsters as you can,” Plummer said. “The thing about fish is that they don't always do what scientists and fishermen think they will do. I think we should nothing.”

Keliher said a glut of soft shell lobsters, as well as increased catches from Canada, contributed to the falling catch prices lobstermen and dealers saw in 2012.

“Right now, the supply is outweighing the demand,” he said.

In 2005 there were 70 million pounds of lobster caught which netted $318 million; 2012 saw lobstermen haul 123 million pounds of lobster for $331 million.

“Granted, 2005 was a different economy but we shouldn't be at $331 million,” Keliher said.

A proposal for a 3-day week during the last two weeks in June until the end of the second week in July was soundly rejected by area lobstermen, including Craig Sproul.

“This seems like just more hurdles for us to get around,” Sproul said. “I don't think it will solve anything. If we can't go out when we need to go out we can't make a living. That will make a lot of people suffer.”

He said the power to decide when lobstermen can or can't go out fishing should be left to local powers.

“There's already a system in place to solve local problems and that's the zone councils,” Sproul said. “It seems to me that we'll see it go up and down but it will even out over time.

“I think throwing more red tape out there isn't going to help anything.”

Keliher said the purpose of the meetings was not to enact change, but to simply gauge how the different zones felt about possible changes to stabilize prices and ensure that what happened to groundfish doesn't happen to lobsters. The groundfish industry recently caused a declaration of a state of emergency in the Gulf of Maine because hauls have fallen precipitously.

“Lobsters account for $1 billion for the Maine economy,” he said. “It puts money in your pocket and you stimulate the economy.

“We want to ensure that we have the best management practices in place going forward to help us secure our own destiny.”

Ben Bulkeley can be reached at 207-633-4620 or bbulkeley@boothbayregister.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BBRegisterBen.