THE HOUR • June 12, 2020
Until now, the seafood industry has been relatively unscathed by outbreaks of coronavirus. Seafood processing facilities are smaller than meatpacking plants, so if one goes down, it has less impact on overall supply. The largest lobster facility in Maine employs between 200 and 250 people, and there are only a couple of facilities in the state that size, said Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers' Association. By contrast, there are regularly more than 1,000 workers at America's major meat plants. While consumers could be protected from large supply shortfalls, the virus may still bring a significant toll for some producers. That could add to the pain felt from the lack of restaurant demand, and it comes after U.S. lobster fisheries were already hit by Chinese tariffs in Donald Trump's trade war.