ROCKLAND — The cold winter is still being felt in the waters off Maine, where the nation’s largest lobster fishery is off to a slow start.

The season typically picks up after the bulk of the lobster population sheds its shells and reaches legal harvesting size. That occurred in late June last year and mid-June in 2012, but state officials and lobstermen say it hasn’t happened yet this year, leading to small catches.

State lobster biologist Carl Wilson said the cold winter and spring may have held back molting. Some lobstermen and buyers are reporting catches half the size they saw at this time last year.

Prices of lobster are up slightly from last year amid the decline in catch, the Maine Import Export Lobster Dealers’ Association’s President Tim Harkins said. The value of last year’s lobster fishery was $2.89 per pound, the second lowest figure in the past 18 years.

Molting could start happening “any day now,” Wilson said, adding that this year’s molt appears similar to what the state typically experienced 10 years ago. The last two years – which brought record catches of more than 125 million pounds of lobster each – were seasons that featured an early molt, he said.

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