BANGOR (AP) – Maine’s 2006 lobster catch dropped slightly from the previous year while declining in value by more than $42 million, preliminary state figures showed.

Overall landings statewide totaled 66.6 million pounds, down from 68.1 million in 2005, according to numbers compiled by the Department of Marine Resources. The value of the catch was pegged at $272.5 million, a decrease from $315 million last year, while the average price per pound fell from $4.62 to $4.09.

Landings in Knox County declined by more than 3 million pounds. Lobstermen in Cumberland, Lincoln and York counties also hauled in a smaller catch.

Landings were up in Hancock, Sagadahoc, Waldo and Washington counties.

Lobstermen were hit harder by the drop in price than by the slight dip in landings.

Bob Baines of Spruce Head said his landings dropped “a little bit,” but the per-pound price he got over the course of the year fell from just above $5 down to around $4.35.

Maine’s peak year for recorded landings was in 2004, when lobstermen brought 71 million pounds of lobster ashore.

The latest figures bore out a consensus among lobstermen that last year’s season was nothing to brag about. Optimism faded last summer as prices declined even amid indications that the catch was less than stellar.

Fishermen also said they were being hurt by higher prices for bait and fuel.

Lobster remains the state’s most lucrative fishery, and scientists say fluctuations in the lobster population are regarded as normal.

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