ABOUT LOBSTERS 



Employing canning methods obtained from France 

 by Vay of Scotland and Nova Scotia, experiments in 

 packing lobster meat were commenced in Eastport 

 about 1840. By 1843 techniques had been so improved 

 that the product was considered to be marketable. Al- 

 though lobsters for the Eastport cannery during the 

 early years had to be brought by smack from the west- 

 ern part of the state, the success of the new venture 

 led, within the next thirty-five years, to the construc- 

 tion of twenty-three factories scattered along the coast 

 as far west as Portland. 



The spreading fame of Maine lobsters and the 

 lack of adequate facilities for proper distribution of the 

 fresh product were the two factors which stimulated 

 the canning industry. As early as 1854 large quantities 

 of Maine canned lobster were being shipped to Cali- 

 fornia and to foreign markets. 



An interesting sidelight on the canned lobster in- 

 dustry is that in 1879 a Southwest Harbor firm was 

 canning whole lobster in the shell for the export trade. 

 These lobsters were intended primarily for garnishing 

 dishes. 



Unfortunately, commercial catch data were not 

 compiled prior to 1880 and even for some years there- 

 after but incompletely. According to estimates made 

 in 1880 when nearly nine and one-half million pounds 

 of lobsters were used to produce two million pounds of 

 the canned product, the peak of canned lobster pro- 

 duction came in 1870, and was followed by a decade of 

 annual decline. 



Restrictions affecting the canning of lobsters were 

 first passed by the Maine legislature in 1872. From 

 that time on the commercial importance of this phase 

 of the lobster industry rapidly decreased. Subsequent 

 legislation culminated in the so-called 10^-inch lobster 

 law of 1895, a measure which put an abrupt end to an 

 industry which had maintained itself by carefully 



