August 14, 2026 — After the collapse of controversial lobster gauge changes, managers are taking a different approach to the future of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank fishery. This time, they are starting with a broader question: What should lobster management be trying to accomplish?
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is beginning a process that is expected to bring fishermen and other industry members into the conversation before any new major management measures are proposed.
At the American Lobster Management Board’s Aug. 4 meeting, ASMFC staff outlined how that process could work. Eventually, it could lead to what is known as a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE), which essentially allows managers to test different management approaches on paper before putting them into practice.
But ASMFC isn’t there yet.
First, managers want to hear from the industry about what the future of the fishery should look like and what needs to be protected, from the lobster resource itself to fishermen’s businesses and coastal communities.
The discussion comes as managers continue to watch changes in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank lobster stock. The 2025 stock assessment found the stock was not depleted, but lobster abundance had fallen 34 percent from the high identified in the previous assessment.
That decline raised concerns and led the Lobster Board to begin looking at what might need to happen next.
Rather than immediately developing another set of regulations, however, ASMFC’s Technical Committee recommended first figuring out what fishermen and managers actually want future management to accomplish.
ASMFC’s Caitlin Starks called that a “critical first step” during the Aug. 4 meeting.