ABOUT LOBSTERS 167 



4. To carry the tanked lobsters over a slump in the 

 market. 



This sounds easy — but buying and selling lobsters is 

 a risky business. Education for a buyer is much more ex- 

 pensive than it is for a fisherman. Note the number of new 

 buyers who go out of business after one or two seasons. 



You won't acquire overnight the judgment on how 

 much to pay your fishermen, or whether to unload your 

 stock of lobsters in anticipation of a falling market, or which 

 lobsterman you can safely give credit to. Will you want to 

 go it alone or will you be smart enough to see the advantages 

 of joining with other dealers in a sort of union to overcome 

 the small jealousies that continually crop up? 



The present-day dealers had to start small and learn 

 through mistakes. You can too if your mistakes are not too 

 costly. 



Do you want to take the next step and operate a pound? 



This is the biggest risk of all, but it is the operation 

 which can bring in the real money. It takes the most 

 capital too — buying the pound — and stocking it with many 

 thousands of pounds of lobsters, and holding them for the 

 high prices of winter. It sounds as though only capital 

 were necessary to make pounding a success. But the risks 

 are there and they are the biggest risks of all. 



A few seasons ago a pound owner of two generations 

 of experience lost all his lobsters ( 20,000 pounds ) , and even 

 Sea and §hore Fisheries experts aren't sure why. In another 

 and smaller pound all the lobsters died because of an influx 

 of fresh water from spring freshets. And there is always 

 the threat of red-tail disease. 



On the other hand, there seem to be fewer failures 

 among pound operators than in other branches of lobstering. 

 Perhaps they know more. 



It is certainly reasonable that if you buy soft-shelled 

 lobsters at a reduced price and lighter weight, and can hold 

 them until they harden up and flesh out, you can make a 

 handsome profit when the price goes way up (as it does in 



