November 3, 2025 — For the first time, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has issued an assessment that finds that overfishing is occurring in the lobster stock in Northern New England waters. And regulators are recommending a re-evaluation of management strategies for the lucrative resource.
Most of the lobsters Americans eat are caught in the Gulf of Maine, and Maine’s lobster fishery is one of the most valuable seafood industries in the country. But there are more signals that the fishery is changing, fast.
Tracy Pugh, a fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the chair of the Commission’s technical committee, presented the results of the new 2025 lobster stock assessment to the American Lobster Management Board this week in Delaware.
And she says according to their models, the abundance of lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and George’s Bank area has declined 34% since its peak in 2018, and is now approaching levels last seen around fifteen years ago.