BANGOR (AP) – The dollar value of Maine’s lobster catch set another record in 2005, climbing to nearly $290 million thanks to another late-season surge and prices that remained solid throughout the season.

When all was said and done, the 2004 lobster catch grew from preliminary figures to a total of $285 million, and preliminary figures put the 2005 catch at $289.7 million, according to the Maine Department of Maine Resources.

Despite the increase in value, the total reported weight of the lobster haul was down from 2004, when 70.8 million pounds of lobster were caught, according to the DMR. Last year, that number fell to 63 million pounds, the agency said.

The average lobster price during 2005 was $4.60 a pound, an increase from $4.03 the year before and from $3.32 in 2002.

The higher price is “probably what saved the fishermen” during the summer when landings were weak; the late haul in October and November made up for the weak July and August, said Carl Wilson, the state’s senior lobster sciencist.

Overall, there’s no indication that the lobster population is declining. “You can’t have record years every year,” he said.

The figures came as no surprise.

Most industry observers had predicted that a lower catch would be offset by a higher price fetched for lobster.

Bob Bayer, executive director of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, said fluctuations are to be expected.

“I don’t see anything that has happened in terms of stability of the population,” Bayer said Friday. “The lobster fishery in the United States is probably one of the best-managed fisheries there is.”

The preliminary figures – both the catch and the value – are expected to grow as more figures are collected.

The Department of Marine Resources has yet to receive 13 percent of the monthly reports from lobster dealers that are required to file them, said Heidi Bray, a marine scientist.

Some of those dealers may have gone out of business, but others are just slow in turning over their data. “We’re not expecting (the preliminary figures) to change drastically,” Bray said, “but we are expecting them to change.”

Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com