Matinicus Lobsters

If you were to get in a boat and travel a short distance from Port Clyde, Maine to an island called Matinicus, you would find yourself in the middle of lobster war. Here’s a quote from the Bangor Daily News that pretty well summarizes the situation: "A surfeit of lobstermen and bait prices that are just too high add to the pressure, he said. As soon as lobstermen started making better money in August, the boat sinkings, shootings and trap cuttings went away, the men said." I thought that was an interesting observation because the morning it was printed two Fort Myers, Florida men were arrested for armed robbery. My first thought was: It would be much cheaper for society to provide these unemployed young men with jobs that paid them a decent living wage than to pay the $50,000 or so a year it will cost to keep each one of them in jail. I am glad to see that a few Maine lobstermen have firmly grasped this basic social concept.