My preferred technique is to “drown 'em” in a bucket of fresh water.
As the oxygen get depleted from the water, they quietly go to sleep. After about 15 minutes, through osmosis, the flesh expands and makes the tail easier to remove and clean.
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That was my point. Sustainability is not just about the practices done at the source…it is also about where they end up being purchased. New England lobsters in New England are farm to table…in Vegas…not so much.
Nicolas Cage?
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^^^This^^^
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They actually aren’t. A good lot of lobsters even close to fisheries spend weeks stored in a lobster pound before heading out to market. And whether that stresses the lobster depends on how long its stored, and how. And “open” system where they’re stored in an actual marine basin, or large tanks where water from one is circulated. Doesn’t really stress the lobsters all that much and they can be stored that way for months without issue. A “closed” system, more like an aquarium, and what you typically see at the store or the market itself. Aint good for the lobster and should only be used for a few days to a week.
I’d be more worried about landlocked lobsters. Your about as likely to encounter a proper open system lobster pound on the west coast as the east coast. As propper storage is essential to making any money selling lobster. But land locked states its not possible.
Shipping itself would be the bigger problem. Faster is better but more expensive. And live lobster is frequently moved by plane. Though a couple days in a truck is the default. But the development of practical lobster pounds and storage tanks is effectivle the only reason you can get atlantic lobster more than 24 hours trip from the coast.
I can’t be the only one who thought that releasing a newly-pacificist Roscoe in gratitude for his service was a less humane thing to do rather than killing him, right?
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I really am unsure what point you are making counter to my own. I live in Rhode Island. Lobsters are delivered daily from the ocean to stores and restaurants here. They don’t get stored any where but on the boat, truck, then the store, all within 24 hours. And non market/fish monger here keeps a stocked tank for weeks on end. It is a daily delivery, and if they have overstock, they actually cook them in store and sell the shelled meat at a premium or use it in other ways (lobster mac n cheese, stuffings, etc) for the prepared foods sections.
Like I said…I am unsure what point you are making about New England being sustainable and farm to table when it comes to this particular sea critter.
What’s the cost for a lobster dinner in New England these days? We used to drive to a place in West Lebanon, NH that served a small lobster, dinner roll, cole slaw, corn on the cob, and butter for $15.
i guess they should evolve to be less tasty
I too live in a lobster fishery. In fact I live in the same fishery you do. Just the other side of the sound. Most of my family members at one time or another were baymen, and actually caught and commecially sold lobsters for work. I spent my childhood making forts out of lobster pots. And I’ve spent a good amount of time working with fish wholesalers and fish docks myself.
And that is not how it works. Except in the few situations where a store or restaurant have a direct relationship with a fisherman or smaller distributor.
What happens is the fisherman sells to a distributor at the docks. And those distributors do a bunch of things. Some act as retail fish mongers. Many sell wholesale to local spots. But in large part the distributor is packaging up fish, and sending it to the large regional fish markets. For Rhode Island its a split between Boston and New Fulton in the Bronx. Small distributors that do a lot of local and retail the lobster will have been out of the water at most a week. And kept in small closed systems.
But the larger distributors that mostly wholesale and ship to the big commercial markets tend to maintain large lobster pounds based on an open system. And lobsters are almost always held for at least a few weeks. It allows for sorting, pooping, and the distributor will wait for the market price to run higher when selling, and lower when buying. To maximize profit, and store lobsters in between.
Rhode Island does not manage its fisheries the way Maine and Canada do. There the distributors for lobster are fisherman owned Co-ops and they’re directly involved in fisheries management. But Rhode Island does appear to have fishing Co-ops. We don’t have many here in NY.
The Long Island Sound lobster fishery Rhode Island participates is collapsing. And from what I’ve read is the hardest hit of the states that lobster on the sound (NY, CT, and parts of Mass). We had some bad over fishing in the 70’s, and 80’s. Some serious water quality issues. And our fishery isn’t managed as well as it should be. Not much cooperation across states. We take females, though females with visible eggs are a no go. And some of the New England states notch the tails of fertile females and bar the taking of marked “breeders”. Our quotas are too big, our seasons not ideal.
But the bigger issue has been climate change. Warmer waters are pushing the lobster north. And some major die offs caused by brown tides and outbreaks of a fungus that kills lobsters by essentially liquifying their shells.
Meanwhile the Maine through Canada fishery is seeing record lobster stocks, and their management scheme is considered a model for other areas and industries. With co-ops directly involved in setting and enforcing quotas. One consistent regulatory scheme from Maine through the Maritimes. No females taken at all. Stricter size limits, and better seasonal control.
Seafood watch lists the Southern New England fishery as “avoid”. That’s our fishery. The Maine, Canadian, and Northern Mass fisheries are listed as "good alternative. Our local lobster isnt sustainable, shipped or stored or otherwise. And if your fishing area looks anything like mine. And the bits of Rhode Island I’ve been in the last couple of years. Most of the lobster on sale there is from Maine. And spent at least a few weeks in a pound. And came through the Bronx or Boston commercial market. Some places will run a truck straight to the Maine co-ops for a better price at the docks. Stew Leonards is famous for that, used to run radio ads bragging about it.
The right time of year you’ll see that around $20-$25 bucks here. Maine and Canada in paper lobster season can get stupid cheap. Dock price was $1.99/lb a few years back. Record catches. Lobster from further south tends to cost at least a few bucks more per lb than Maine or Canadian. Our local stuff tends to sit around 8.99/lb at the working markets that buy direct from boats in the summer. 12.99/lb in winter. Drop 2-4 bucks for the Maine lobster at the same location. But twin lobster specials for around $35 bucks are easy to find year round at the right restaurants.
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Lobster with Marijuana looks very tasty! Wish I try that, soon.
RI has some pretty bad regulation around lobster actually. My parents can easily get 10 lbs. from local markets. It’s illegal to sell those in places like Maine as it helps sustain the population.
P.s. no school Foster Gloster
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Too bad about that lobster. Given the blue rubber bands, I’d say the poor thing wanted to display some social awareness, or was into some worthwhile cause. Oh, well.
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Salty!? They told me you were dead!
Or you could…not kill animals?
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