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Lobstermen and the Price of Fuel By Julie Donnelly  Listen to story (Real Audio)
BOSTON - June 30, 2008 - Text of Story HOST INTRO: Rising gas prices are forcing people to reconsider commutes, and look more closely at public transportation. But for the region's lobster fishermen, increased costs are threatening to put them out of business. Diesel fuel for boats is costing four times as much as it did four years ago. Julie Donnelly has more. DONNELLY: Cardinal Medeiros Pier in South Boston is not someplace you want to be caught alone in the dead of night. Tucked behind a graveyard for MBTA buses, it looks like something out of a Scorsese crime movie. But by 6:30 a.m. on most June mornings it's usually hopping with lobster fishermen. This year is different. BRIAN ULEVICIUS: You come out on the weekends like last year and there'd be a hundred boats out. Now there's like few boats, not as many people. DONNELLY: Brian Ulevicius is a crew member called a stern man. He says the high cost of diesel fuel is forcing the lobster industry to scale back. The boat he works for is laying traps later than usual and they plan to fish just two days a week, and that has him scrambling to find work. ULEVICIUS: If I could work on different boats, I'd do seven days. Nobody's uh, It's not working for me this year. DONNELLY: One lobsterman who is going out is Steve Holler. He says a few years ago, he needed to catch 60 pounds of lobster to cover his daily costs. Now its 125 pounds of lobster, and that's before anyone gets paid. The day starts out rough, as some traps are full of jellyfish and spider crabs. So Steve has to decide whether to relocate the traps. HOLLER: Ok, I could move it 2 or 3 miles from here, but that's going to cost a lot of fuel, so that comes into play. DONNELLY: Right now Steve is concerned about traveling an extra two or three miles. But later in the season, warmer water will force the lobsters out of the harbor, miles and gallons of expensive fuel away. HOLLER: It's a gamble, are they there, are they not there. If not, that's a lot of wasted money. DONNELLY: It's time for a little superstition to try to improve their luck; it's time to turn things around, starting with their caps HOLLER: Frank, rally hat! DONNELLY: Steve and his crew don upside down caps, silly glasses and do a little dance. It seems to work. At one point, they reel in the mother of all lobsters ? at least three pounds. Until they realize she is a mother, full of hundreds of eggs. Legally, they have to throw her back. But it hurts, as they calculate how many gallons of fuel she would be worth. Since you can't always count on luck and superstition, Steve is also trying to keep his business afloat by cutting out the middleman. Despite the skyrocketing price of diesel, the price distributors pay hasn't risen a bit. So he pulls up at a dock in Quincy, where customers are lining up to purchase lobsters directly from his boat for 7.99 a pound ? as much as three dollars more than the dealer pays. The past few weeks, he's sold out, according to regular customer Tom Stansbury. STANSBURY: It's great. He's advertising too much now though, we're going to lose out. It was like a little known secret down here, but hey, I know as long as I get here on time I know I can get em. DONNELLY: Customers say it's the best deal in town. But Steve's entrepreneurial venture may still not make him a profit this year, if diesel prices continue to go up. HOLLER: This will be a pivotal season and once it's all done I crunch the numbers, check it out. I don't want to leave. I hope not. I like it, I'd like to keep working. DONNELLY: The lobsters didn't sell out on this Friday. So Steve dragged several plastic containers of live lobsters back to South Boston. They have to sell the extras to a dealer at 5 dollars a pound. At that price, each pound of lobster barely covers a gallon of diesel and the bait needed to catch it.
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