BOSTON — March 10, 2013 — After more than five years of having its practices audited by outside observers, Maine’s lobster industry officially has achieved a status that it hopes will help boost demand and prices for its product.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage, attending the annual International Boston Seafood Show, announced Sunday that the industry has been certified as “sustainable” by the London-based Marine Stewardship Council.
According to a prepared statement released by state officials, MSC certification of Maine’s iconic lobster industry is expected to help with a new marketing push for the industry.
“The Marine Stewardship Council is the premier international certification program for wild-capture fisheries,” Maine Department of Marine Resources officials wrote in the statement. “MSC certification is the only seafood certification program that meets all the major international standards on sustainable fishing, ecosystem protection, and eco-labeling. Currently, more than 100 fisheries worldwide are MSC certified.”
The state lobster fishery had one of its most tumultuous seasons in recent memory in 2012 when fishermen caught an unusually large amount of soft-shell lobsters in the spring and early summer, at a time when the North American lobster distribution network is ill-prepared for handling large volumes of live lobster from Maine. The glut caused prices that fishermen earned for their catch to plummet temporarily to their lowest levels in decades and led to blockades of imported Maine lobster by Canadian fishermen in New Brunswick.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News