—because it's extremely important.
This whole situation today started about 12 months ago. Last spring, everyone was worried about the prices paid to harvesters being too high. Harvesters weren't; they loved it. The sellers, processors, the shippers, realized late in June that they had paid too much last spring, because they saw the influx of the Maine product.
At the Boston Seafood Show last year, in March, there was already chatter about the Maine product coming early. By the end of June, when all the spring seasons were finished and all the processors had bought all the Canadian lobster, the Maine product hit much earlier than ever, and at very low prices because the landings were so high in Maine.
That meant that the LFA 25 season, which starts in the middle of August, was opening in a collapsing market. All the processors that put up lobster based on those $4.50 and $5.00 shore prices last spring, suffered greatly.
Then in the fall of the year, when the Southwest Nova guys started, you'll recall the prices there were very low as well. What we're seeing right now is a hangover from that. There was inventory left from last spring as we entered this spring. There was a recognition by the processors that they were not going to get caught again, so that's why you see these lower prices today.