Sellers shrug at lobster ban

A day after Whole Foods Market stopped the sale of live lobsters in its stores, local chefs and wholesalers brushed off worries that New England's iconic crustacean would go the way of fur or foie gras.

The upscale natural foods chain said that lobsters are not treated humanely enough en route from the boat to the dinner plate. The company said for now it would only sell frozen lobster products that meet standards for humane treatment.

Chef Jasper White, whose four Summer Shack restaurants sell $4 million to $5 million worth of lobster each year, called the decision ``pure silliness" and a ``PR move" to appease animal-rights activists. Some 10,000 families in New England and maritime Canada depend on lobstering for income, he says, and Whole Foods should be more concerned about them than about an animal that he called ``basically an insect."

``People first, lobsters second," White said. ``Lobsters are for dinner."

Locals scoffed at Whole Foods' ban, saying the decision would barely make a dent in sales. Over at downtown wholesaler James Hook & Co., business was brisk yesterday as customers streamed in and out of the store buying lobsters for Father's Day. Near the display window, a large tank housed dozens of the critters, some as old as 40 or 50 years and weighing up to 15 pounds.

``We've been doing this for hundreds of years, and the world is supposed to jump up and take notice if Whole Foods stops selling lobsters? They can march to the beat of their own drum," said Eddie Hook, whose family has run the business for 80 years.

Whole Foods said it performed an eight-month review, testing everything from lobster ``condos" to specially designed holding crates to see whether there were more ethical ways of treating the animals, which sometimes stay in storage for months before being sold.

``This is about quality of life," said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards for the Austin-based chain, noting that long before it turned its attention to lobster, Whole Foods applied the same standards to meat and poultry. ``Whether it's you, me, a dog, a cat, sheep, cow, or lobster, it's about giving them the ability to express their normal behavior, to really support who they are as a creature. It's the right thing to do." Whole Foods would not disclose its revenue from lobster sales.

The decision comes about a month after Safeway Inc. said it would phase out lobster tanks because the ``business was in decline."

That isn't the case in New England, the heart of the country's industry. Last year, fishermen caught nearly 12 million pounds in Massachusetts, worth more than $52 million before any mark-up. In Maine, the biggest lobster-fishing state in the country, lobstermen caught more than 65 million pounds in a record-breaking year in dollar terms.

During the peak season in the summer, lobsters can stay in storage for as little for a few days. But to keep prices even throughout the year, lobstermen often hold the animals for months before releasing them onto the market.

``They're taken from the ocean and kept for months. Then they end up in grocery tanks and stew in their own excrement. Their claws are banded, not just to protect people but because it's so stressful for them that they end up attacking each other. It's sadistic cruelty," said Matt Prescott, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which runs a Lobster Liberation campaign.

The European Food Safety Authority recently concluded that lobsters and crabs have ``a pain system and considerable learning ability," in a finding that led to Whole Foods' decision.

But some marine biologists don't see it that way. Professor Jelle Atema, director of the Boston University Marine Program, said he has seen no evidence that a lobster feels anything akin to pain.

Whole Foods had started developing standards for humane cooking of lobster -- calling for customers to freeze them first to avoid causing any possible pain. But some customers, like Jean Piantedosi O'Brien who was shopping at James Hook, don't see the need to go through that trouble.

``If they ban the lobsters, what's next?" she said, ``I boil them and I'll eat them until the day I die."

Kim-Mai Cutler can be reached at kcutler@globe.com; Joe Yonan at yonan@globe.com.