ABOUT LOBSTERS 163 



just hunting for lost pots ( at $3 a pot ) . Some of them will 

 be lost for good, having been rolled over and over by the 

 waves thus winding the warps around the body of the traps 

 and drawing the buoys down out of sight. Others will have 

 been shifted by the waves and you zigzag back and forth 

 over the sea searching for them. You will wearily put for 

 home with a deckload of smashed pots to be repaired when 

 you are next stormbound. Up to 30 per cent of a man's pots 

 are lost each year. 



Is your courage strong enough to stand this and look 

 beyond to see that it is the average results that count, not 

 just a few days of hard luck? 



Or take the period of good weather when lobsters are 

 plentiful and your catch is good. It is very heartening — 

 until you sell your catch, and find the price is 15 cents a 

 pound less than it was yesterday — for there is a glut of 

 lobsters. 



Maybe you say, " This is a hell of a business," or maybe 

 you get mad at your buyer and shift to another buyer who 

 offers a quarter cent more per pound. 



The top-liner will rarely do either of these things. He 

 knows that supply governs demand (and prices) and the 

 dealer shouldn't be blamed. He also knows it doesn't pay 

 to get mad with his buyer, for the lobsterman who isn't loyal 

 to his buyer won't find the buyer loyal to him and willing 

 to take his catch when the buyer is already loaded up. 



It is hard to imagine greater narrowmindedness than 

 that of a fisherman who has been buying gear from his 

 buyer on credit all winter, yet who shifts from this buyer 

 during the catching season because someone else offers him 

 a quarter of a cent more. It happens. 



If your home port is a good enough location. 



If you live on a harbor which supports 200 lobstermen 

 but only two buyers, you are in the hands of those buyers 

 and they can be as arrogant as they please. But if there 

 are more buyers, you can pick the one who treats you best 

 year in and year out. 



