March 18, 2022 — Maine’s lobster fishery scored a record-breaking value in 2021, with a 75% increase over 2020 and a 10% increase in landed weight.
But fishermen face increasing pressures, including difficulty finding and keeping crew, rising operational costs, competition for fishing grounds from other industries, new regulations affecting fishing gear and methods and coastal development pressure that’s squeezing waterfront access and opportunities to live they work.
There are plenty of long-term studies on the lobster side of the fishery. For example, the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute handles the American Lobster Settlement Index, which monitors larval lobsters and their environment.
Now a new study is underway to study the human side of the fishery.
“Last year’s season was the most valuable ever,” said Theresa Burnham, a University of Maine research associate and a member of the study’s research team.