November 15, 2022 — Maine’s quota for an increasingly important lobster bait will rise dramatically next year, reflecting recent shifts in the Gulf of Maine’s fisheries.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission last week upped the Pine Tree State’s baseline quota for menhaden — known as pogies — from 0.5 percent to almost 5 percent. The exponential increase could free Maine from its past reliance on special allowances to keep lobstermen’s bait bags full throughout the season.
Over the past few years, Maine lobstermen have turned to pogies as the schooling fish’s populations grow in the Gulf of Maine and herring — a once major piece of the bait industry — continues to diminish. But fishermen were hampered by how much pogie they could catch because quotas were based when pogies weren’t as abundant in Maine.
Fishermen lobbied for Maine’s quota to better align with what they are seeing in the water now, and the commission’s new quotas drew praise from fishermen and state officials alike.