From the information I receive out of Florida, from talking to a few individuals down there, the price is probably on par with last year.
Actually, in our own operation at home, we're receiving more money right today for a pound of lobster meat or a pound of raw tails than what we received last year, even though the price in the marketplace is down. That's because the fishing industry lives and dies on the exchange rate. Basically, product that was selling for $16 a pound last year would be returning back to the plant, when the dollar was on par--$16 a pound. The same product would be selling right now for $14 U.S. a pound but returning to the plant about $17.25 a pound.
The important thing for the fishery, for us to get out of this crisis, is for the processors and the brokers to have a larger line of credit. I'm not a processor, but I know where Mr. Bonnell is coming from on this. If they all could have enough line of credit this year to be able to buy the product, process it, keep the people working in the plant, and sell it out in an orderly fashion, within 14 months to 16 months we'd all gradually start to get out of this mess we are in.
If they don't have a line of credit large enough to be able to operate this year, what's going to happen is that either boats will be tied to the wharves--in other words, once the plant has no more money, it can't purchase any more lobster, which means the workers have gone home, which means the crew on my vessel has gone home too--or else someone will start dumping product onto the market at an unrealistically low price. When we hit that, we're all doomed. It's a crisis then.
How are these processing plants going to get the line of credit? Provincially they can't do anything, but federally? Maybe you fellows could help. Basically, they'd be asking for someone to guarantee the line of credit they'd be getting from the bank or credit union facility.