Ever since last week, when Martha Stewart predicted that New Englanders may have to shell out $50 for a lobster roll this season, local foodies have been asking why.
The home decor and chef connoisseur made the comments at the opening of her new restaurant, The Bedford at Foxwoods Casino is Mashantucket, Connecticut. She blamed the high cost on a brutally cold winter.
Stewart’s not alone. Seafood stores and wholesalers around Massachusetts have concerns as well.
Joby Norton of Mullaney’s Harborside Fish Market, which has stores in Scituate and Cohasset, agrees that the price of $50 may not be too far off the mark.
“People are super-surprised at that price, but if you figure lobster meat is $75 a pound, that’s almost $5 an ounce, they’re putting six ounces in a lobster roll. That’s almost $30 just for lobster meat in that lobster roll before the roll,” he said.
It’s all about supply and demand. And according to Norton, one factor that contributes to lower supply this time of year is that lobster fishing is closed from Feb. 1 through April 30.
“Most of the fishermen have to take their traps out of the water for the migration of the right whales,” Norton said. “They can still fish outside an area, and there’s a couple of areas they can fish, but for the most part, most of the fishermen don’t fish a lot during the winter months because of the weather.”
Officials at the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries, which collects information on the lobster industry, confirms that cold waters and the fragility of lobsters for harvesting are keeping the supply of lobsters down, and prices high.
This has also been a dangerous season for fishermen, with several deaths reported, including seven lost at sea in Gloucester in February. The month of March tends to be windy and that makes lobster fishing difficult, since the crustacean remains quiet.
Eddie Hook, co-owner of James Hook & Co, a family run seafood restaurant on Atlantic Avenue at the Fish Pier in Boston that opened in 1925, says New England weather has a big impact on prices.
“The lobster business or any seafood business, you’re all depending on weather, and weather is unpredictable,” he said.
Hook, however, is optimistic about prices coming down in the summer months.
“I expect lobster prices to go down and I expect lobster catches to go up,” he said.
Right now, Hook said his business is selling lobster rolls in the retail store for $30 and $38, and says that hasn’t changed.
“You know, we expect it to be that way, you know, through the rest of the spring and into the summer season,” Hook said.
Chris Porter of Patriots Seafood store in Salem said while it’s still too early in the season to predict, he’s also optimistic that prices will temper.
“Usually after Easter is when the nicer weather and other areas open up. Right now, it is a higher price and the supply is very limited, causing prices to go up,” Porter said.
State limits lobster catches
Officials at DMF say that it’s hard to predict prices, but says they are being affected not only by the cold, but by what’s happening in Maine and Canada, as well as tariffs, labor shortages and higher fuel prices for fishing boats.
The last few years have seen increases in lobster supplies. In 2025, according to the DMF, lobster landings in Massachusetts hit their highest level since at least 2021, selling 17.6 million pounds of lobster to dealers for a cost of $118 million. That’s up nearly 14% since 2022, the year the state saw the lowest lobster haul in recent years.
Story Reed, deputy director of DMF, said that while his agency doesn’t control what you catch, it does control the manner in which you catch it. The agency limits the number of permits issued, the number of traps and minimum and maximum sizing of lobsters that are caught. Conservation rules are enforced to protect breeding females.
DMF issues 900 lobster permits with lobster landings happening in points north of Provincetown and Chatham, down to New Bedford, up to Gloucester and Boston and in areas of Plymouth, Scituate and Sandwich.
Jared Silva, senior policy analyst with the DMF, said lobsters are the state’s strongest inshore fishery, but only a sliver of the overall market, making up less than 10% of U.S. landings.
“It’s kind of the lifeblood of our ports,” Silva said and those in the industry are hoping the lobster pattern will hold strong as we head into summer.
Norton said that while all indications are the lobster stocks are healthy, he can’t predict what will happen.
“If there was any way I could tell what the price would be in two weeks or in six months, I’d be buying lottery tickets all day long, “ Norton said.
