It should come as no surprise that rising fuel prices are beginning to pinch the fishing industry. There are the direct costs – costlier trips to lobster grounds, for example – as well as indirect ones, such as higher prices for oil-based products and bait. Taken together, these increases can be counted on to stress individual fishermen, who can’t control market prices and can’t pass along price increases to their customers.
A problem not often mentioned – but which came up in interviews for our story on fuel prices – is the series of lobsterboat races along this coast every summer. Fishermen who are already paying higher fuel prices to go to work aren’t as likely, it would seem, to spend even more money to take part in distant boat races. While we hope this isn’t the case, it’s still a reminder of how interconnected we have all become, and how pervasive petroleum and its price are in the modern world economy.