PORTLAND (AP) – Boosting prices and puzzling experts, lobster catches have dropped this summer along the coast of Maine.

Last year, despite lagging through the summer, Maine’s overall catch set a new record – 63.2 million pounds, worth $253.5 million.

“The jury’s out until at least late November, as we all learned last year,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

Lobstermen who started hauling traps in May and June this year reported bigger-than-usual spring catches. They now say that catches are running about 30 percent behind last year.

The trend is being noticed all along the Maine coast and in New Hampshire, some lobstermen said.

“I can’t remember anything like this,” said Lloyd Hughes, who lobsters out of Rye Harbor, N.H., and has hauled traps since 1946.

“This is the way it used to be 30 years ago. Labor Day, you figure on getting your best haul,” said Penny Trundy, manager of the Stonington Lobster Co-op.

Lobster dealers are paying $4.50 a pound or more to lobstermen – $1 more than last year. But that is barely enough to cover higher prices for fuel and bait, according to lobstermen.

Consumers also are paying premium prices, with the smallest soft-shell lobsters generally costing $6 a pound and up and hard-shell lobsters selling for $8 a pound and up.

Retailers, however, says prices aren’t hurting sales.

“We can’t even keep the hard-shells in here,” said John Gildard of Alewives Brook Farm in Cape Elizabeth.

At the Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier in Kittery, which serves up 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of lobster each week, a cooked hard-shell lobster costs about $14.

Lobster rolls are up to $14.95, reflecting about a $5 increase in the cost of lobster meat this year alone, said the assistant manager, Cory Scardina.

“People are still buying them,” Scardina said. “They’re coming from Massachusetts or New York. They’re going to get a lobster. They’ve come this far for them.”