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Herring for use as lobster bait fills a barrel at Dropping Springs Bait on Sturdivant’s Wharf in Portland. Lobstermen face a herring shortage.

John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

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Jeff Legere, operations manager for Dropping Springs Bait, moves pallets of barrels containing herring used as lobster bait at his shop on Sturdivant’s Wharf in Portland last week. Tough new restrictions have been placed on New England’s herring catch.

John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

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A fishing boat unloads its catch of 400,000 pounds of herring to be used as lobster bait. Lobstermen are trying alternatives to herring for the bait in their traps.

2007 Press Herald file photo

The good news is that lobsters are not exactly picky eaters. They'll crawl into a trap for just about any kind of seafood, or non-seafood.

The bad news is that it takes an awful lot of bait to lure the crustaceans into the millions of lobster traps set along the Maine coast each year. And the most abundant and reliable bait source – herring – may soon be in short supply.

Fishery managers voted last week to reduce New England's herring catch limit 45 percent for next year.

The move was praised by some as a wise precaution, given doubts about the herring population and the important role herring play as a food source for everything from tuna to humpback whales.

But for Maine's lobster industry, the decision places new urgency on an old quest for the next great lobster bait.

A lot of promising new baits have come and gone while lobstermen stuck to the tried-and-true herring. But some entrepreneurs say lobstermen may soon have little choice but to part with tradition and try alternatives, such as processed cowhide, pressed fishmeal biscuits and an experimental fish-flavored product called Lobster Candy.

"The fishermen are real set in their ways," said Paul Turnage of Lyman, inventor of Lobster Candy. But, he said, "When there's no herring around, they'll use something else."

Replacing herring would not be easy, however.

"It's millions and millions of pounds of (herring) that are consumed as bait," said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association. "It's a big hole to fill."

In Maine alone last year, herring boats landed 30,000 metric tons – 66 million pounds – of the fish.

Some of the herring is turned into canned sardines or other processed fish products. But the vast majority is salted and sold to lobstermen to bait traps.

A typical lobster boat crew goes through one or two barrels of herring – at about $90 per barrel – every time they head out to haul and reset their traps.

Most in the industry now expect the price of herring to go up sharply, salt in the wound for lobstermen trying to endure a weak global market and low lobster prices.

"It's got everybody's attention," said Jeff Legere, manager of Dropping Springs Bait in Portland. "The price (of bait) is only going to go one way. We just don't know when."

The Maine Lobstermen's Association is gathering information about bait alternatives, and the state Department of Marine Resources is planning to convene a lobster bait summit on Dec. 1 in Augusta.

While herring is the most common, it's not the only fish used to attract hungry lobsters.

Imported redfish and pogies, or menhaden, are the bait of choice for some lobstermen who live on the islands of Casco Bay, for example.

Other lobstermen use haddock racks, or the heads and skeletons left over after the fish are filleted.

It depends largely on local traditions, and on trial and error.

"In the summer, the best we've found is herring," Loren Brooks said last week in between hauling traps off Kennebunk. "They (the lobsters) seem to like it better."

Brooks is now exploring alternatives, however.

"The way they cut back on the herring it's going to be touch and go next year."

Brooks is testing Lobster Candy, a reusable artificial bait soaked in fish brine and tied into a trap.

"We've only hauled once on it, and we had one lobster," Brooks said. "I'll know more in a week."

Turnage, the bait's inventor, said he thinks he has a good alternative, this time. Several years ago, he introduced a bait called the Lobster Puck. But it contained a soft plastic made with chemicals that some said jeopardized the natural image of Maine lobster.

"I lost quite a bit of money on the other thing," Turnage said.

The new bait includes no toxins and is being thoroughly tested, he said.

"This one here, when it comes out, there's going to be substantial work behind it."

The Lobster Puck wasn't the only new bait to be rejected.

Animal hides and other meat-processing wastes became a popular bait in some harbors several years ago. But industry leaders and the state government stepped in after hearing unsavory reports about consumers finding hair inside their lobsters.

The state passed a law in 2005 outlawing the use of such wastes and allowing animal hides only if the hair is removed.

Hairless hide baits are now used by a number of Maine fishermen, especially in winter when traps are left in the water longer.

"We're moving a lot of it," said Chuck Baker, owner of Bessy Bait of Seabrook, N.H. "The lobster doesn't know whether it's going after fish bait or hide bait. It simply knows it's protein."

Baker, whose son is a lobsterman, said he is prepared to double his imports of processed hides, but won't be able to singlehandedly replace millions of pounds of herring.

While there may not be one silver bullet to keep bait in Maine's lobster traps, the industry has options, said Robert Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute, a research organization affiliated with the University of Maine.

"There's an awful lot of things that could work for lobster bait," he said. "I think we could get geared up to do this. It would be a major undertaking."

Bayer has been experimenting with alternative lobster baits using soybeans and other ingredients for 20 years. Bait shortages are an issue around the world as fish supplies rise and fall, he said.

"It seemed likely to me that this was something that was going to come sooner or later," Bayer said.

The institute has most recently helped develop a grain-based bait that seems to attract lobsters, at least when there is no herring around to distract them.

The bait doesn't alter the taste of lobster meat, he said. "We've tested that."

And it is nutritious for lobsters, which is an important side benefit, given the role the herring it would replace plays in feeding coastal lobster populations.

Even if lobstermen can switch to other baits, however, the herring shortage is expected to strain those supplies, too, and increase costs for everyone.

"If those guys can't get herring, they've got to get some other bait. Everything will be affected," said Steve Train, a Long Islander who baits his traps with pogies and redfish.

Train said he once tried artificial baits, but quickly stopped. "I think they drove the lobsters out of the traps."

Now, like other lobstermen, Train hopes he can afford to stick with what works, "until someone proves to me something else works better."

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:

jrichardson@pressherald.com