Saving Seafood

See the 1-in-50-Million Split-Color Lobster Caught Off the Coast of Massachusetts. It’s Carrying Two Sets of Genetic Information

April 28, 2026 — On April 16, the crew aboard the Timothy Michael spotted an unusual-looking lobster in their haul while fishing off Cape Cod. One half of its body—stretching from head to tail—was orange-red, while the other half was dark brown, with a straight line dividing the two hues, a rare 1-in-50-million example of a “split-color” lobster.

Wellfleet Shellfish Company, which pulled in the rare lobster, decided not to sell it. Rather, the company donated the creature to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, a Cape Cod institution operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

“Instead of heading to market, she’s heading somewhere even more special,” the company wrote on social media.

The aquarium, established in 1875 and the nation’s oldest public marine aquarium, is currently closed for repairs. But once it reopens early next year, the split-color lobster will be “one of the first animals going back into the aquarium,” Julia Studley, an aquarium biotechnician, tells the Cape Cod Times’ Heather McCarron.

Read the full article at the Smithsonian Magazine

The Longsoaker promises to bait your pots automatically

April 27, 2026 — Plenty of pot and trap fishermen on all coasts have been storm-bound at the dock, knowing that their bait bags are empty and their gear isn’t fishing. If a big V-notched female lobster is in the trap, she’s very likely eating all the keepers and will have to be thrown back, along with a bunch of empty shells. If it’s early in Dungeness season, with powerful Pacific waves crashing on the bars off many ports, the crabs will be crawling past unbaited traps with little interest.

Russ Mullins of Longsoaker Fishing Systems in Bellingham, Wash., looked at this problem and had an idea: the Longsoaker timed-release bait container. “It holds the bait and keeps it dry until the galvanic timer corrodes away. Then it opens, and you’ve got fresh bait in your trap without ever having to leave the dock.” The patented galvanic timer mechanism causes the Longsoaker to open somewhere between 12 hours and five days, according to the Longsoaker website, but Mullins notes that most fishermen target a fresh bait release near the middle of the expected soak, often one to three days. “Usually, it opens sometime after the second day if the fisherman hauls the pot on the fourth day.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MAINE: Fishermen have recycled thousands of old lobster traps on Vinalhaven this winter

April 23, 2026 — The sun is just starting to peak through the dense clouds on this late morning in April, as Buzz Scott hoists up a heavy wire lobster trap.

Scott is working with a small crew of fishermen, and the traps, and the jokes, are flying.

“See this is why fishermen have big bellies,” Scott says, as he uses his stomach to lift one of the traps and heave it onto the bed a trailer.

Very few of these traps are useable. Some are caked with moss and mud. Others have been crushed. Curt Bryant, known to the guys as “Chief,” said the traps on this property have been sitting idle for years.

“This was all traps and it was all five high, four and five high like that,” Bryant said. “This whole thing was solid.”

This is a common scene up and down Maine’s coast — battered wire fishing traps piled high in a front yard, tucked back in the woods, or strewn along the shore after a storm. Wire pots wrapped with polyvinyl plastic replaced wooden, biodegradable traps in the 1980s, and they’ve been piling up since, shedding microplastics and creating hazards for birds and other creatures.

Read the full article at nhpr

Cunner, climate, and concern: Study digs into lobster questions

April 22, 2026 — Along Maine’s coast, a familiar fish is raising new questions for lobstermen.

Researchers at the University of Maine (UMaine) are taking a closer look at whether cunner fish– long known to share habitat with lobsters– may be preying on them in a new way, particularly targeting egg-bearing females. The work is being led by fisheries scientist Michelle Staudinger, backed by a National Geographic Society grant aimed at studying keystone species and emerging ecosystems shifts.

Cunner aren’t new to the Gulf of Maine. The small, colorful fish have always fed on young lobsters in their early benthic stages, along with clams and snails. But recently, fishermen and the Maine Department of Marine Resources have reported cunner showing up in traps, and in some cases with lobster eggs in their mouths, raising concerns about potential impacts to the fishery.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

MAINE: Maine senators raise red flags on ropeless gear mandate

April 10, 2026 — Maine’s two U.S. senators are pushing back on federal efforts to make ropeless gear the centerpiece of North Atlantic right whale conservation, warning that forcing an unproven technology on the lobster fleet could devastate the fishery.

In a letter to Eugenio Piñero Soler, assistant administrator for fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, urged the agency to take lobstermen’s concerns seriously and pursue flexible alternatives before pursuing any new rulemaking.

“A single, uniform solution, particularly one that mandates technology that is not yet proven at scale, is not the right path forward for this fishery or for the conservation goals we share,” the senators wrote.

The letter followed the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March, where Soler heard directly from lobstermen about the practical barriers to ropeless fishing. The senators echoed what they heard on the ground: small vessels don’t have the capital, deck space, crew, or familiarity with high-tech systems to absorb a forced transition. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has estimated that transition costs alone would run at least $45 million industry-wide.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

MAINE: Collins, King raise ropeless gear concerns to federal policymakers

April 10, 2026 — U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) are calling for continued engagement with Maine’s seafood industry stakeholders. In a letter to Eugenio Piñero Soler, assistant administrator for fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service, the senators urge NMFS to heed the well-founded concerns expressed by Maine’s lobstermen and fishermen regarding ropeless gear and to include them in any further regulatory discussions.

“Maine lobstermen’s concerns about ropeless gear are well-documented and deserve serious consideration. It is important to give full and meaningful weight to concerns raised by fishermen regarding ropeless/on-demand fishing gear as NMFS’s core strategy for North Atlantic right whale (NARW) conservation. We urge you to continue to explore other options, such as Dynamic Area Management with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, and strongly encourage you to continue engaging fishermen directly as your agency approaches new rulemaking on this issue,” the senators wrote.

Read the full article at the Mount Dessert Islander

MAINE: Maine senators highlight lobstermen’s concerns with ropeless gear

April 9, 2026 — In a joint letter to NOAA Fisheries, the senators representing the U.S. state of Maine asked NOAA Fisheries to pay attention to the concerns of lobstermen over ropeless gear implementation.

“Maine lobstermen’s concerns about ropeless gear are well-documented and deserve serious consideration,” the senators said. “It is important to give full and meaningful weight to concerns raised by fishermen regarding ropeless/on-demand fishing gear as NMFS’ core strategy for North Atlantic right whale conservation.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Collins, King Raise Ropeless Gear Concerns to Federal Policymakers

April 8, 2026 — The following was released by Office of U.S. Senator Angus King:

U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) are calling for continued engagement with Maine’s seafood industry stakeholders. In a letter to Eugenio Piñero Soler, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Senators urge NMFS to heed the well-founded concerns expressed by Maine’s lobstermen and fishermen regarding ropeless gear, and to include them in any further regulatory discussions.

“Maine lobstermen’s concerns about ropeless gear are well-documented and deserve serious consideration. It is important to give full and meaningful weight to concerns raised by fishermen regarding ropeless/on demand fishing gear as NMFS’s core strategy for North Atlantic right whale (NARW) conservation. We urge you continue to explore other options such as Dynamic Area Management with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), and strongly encourage you to continue engaging fishermen directly as your agency approaches new rulemaking on this issue,” the Senators wrote.

The Senators continued, “You heard these concerns directly from lobstermen at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum during the Federal Fisheries Leadership seminar. Lobstermen shared with you firsthand their concerns about the cost of this technology, and the dangers of not knowing where gear is placed in the Gulf of Maine. Small vessels simply would not have access to capital, deck space, crew, or familiarity with high-tech systems to survive a transition to ropeless fishing.”

“We appreciate your willingness to listen, and we encourage NMFS to approach future rulemaking with a genuine commitment to flexibility and co-development directly with stakeholders. A single, uniform solution, particularly one that mandates technology that is not yet proven at scale, is not the right path forward for this fishery or for the conservation goals we share. We look forward to continuing this conversation and welcome the opportunity to work with you and your team directly,” the Senators concluded.

This action by Senators Collins and King is a continuation of their persistent joint efforts in support of Maine’s lobster fishery. In 2022, when NOAA rolled out its Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP), the Senators urged the organization to create regulations that are based on the best available evidence and not unfairly target the fishery. According to an estimate by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, adopting ropeless gear would cost Maine lobstermen at least $45 million due to the expense of trawling up, acquiring and adding weak points, purchasing specialized rope, lengthening groundlines, marking gear, and hiring additional crew to complete this work.

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

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Dear Administrator Soler:

Thank you for taking the time to attend the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in early March and engaging with Maine’s fishing community directly. As experienced firsthand, the Forum brings together fishermen, sea farmers, gear suppliers, state and federal scientists and regulators, and other stakeholders for education, collaboration, and commerce. We appreciate your attention to the serious issues facing Maine fishermen hearing directly from the industries about the impacts of federal regulation. This includes the ongoing discussion on the use of ropeless/on demand fishing gear in the Gulf of Maine.

Maine lobstermen’s concerns about ropeless gear are well-documented and deserve serious consideration. It is important to give full and meaningful weight to concerns raised by fishermen regarding ropeless/on demand fishing gear as NMFS’s core strategy for North Atlantic right whale (NARW) conservation. We urge you continue to explore other options such as Dynamic Area Management with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), and strongly encourage you to continue engaging fishermen directly as your agency approaches new rulemaking on this issue.

In 2022, the Maine Delegation secured a six-year regulatory pause for Maine’s lobster industry, saving the industry from a misguided regulatory approach that would have shuttered our fishery. The regulatory pause language included funding to assist with gear modification and configuration, improve scientific understanding of NARW migration patterns, and invest in right whale-related research, monitoring, and conservation. Funding through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has enabled the Maine DMR to create the Maine Innovative Gear Library (MIGL), which began gear testing with participants in the summer of 2024 and has since expanded to four gear hubs spanning the coast from Brunswick to Addison. The MIGL program now has 33 active testers operating across all seven Maine lobster zones, with more than 3,200 hauls completed as of December 2025. While the sample size is small and does not inform the scalability of the technology, it is meaningful progress, and it speaks to the industry’s willingness to engage and provide critical feedback to NMFS that should be taken into consideration. MIGL expects to publish its full results later in 2026.

The program has made important strides, allowing our lobstermen to trial a variety of ropeless technologies in real-world conditions, and collect feedback and data on the use of these gear technologies. Initial data and interviews with lobstermen indicate that substantial issues must be resolved before this technology is suitable for broad implementation in Maine’s fishery. Notably, the lobster industry has raised a number of concerns with this technology, which is an important part of what the Maine DMR is documenting and assessing through this work.

Cost and increased trip time are among the most significant barriers; a study by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries estimated that a full transition to ropeless gear in the 2015-2019 timeframe would have resulted in an average of $40 million decline in annual revenue and 3.5 million fewer pounds (a 20% decline) of lobster landed for the Massachusetts lobster fishery—notably, a fishery that is considerably smaller than Maine’s fishery. MIGL interview data also identify time burden as one of the Maine lobster industry’s major operational concerns and the research is exploring the extent to which hauling time per trap increases with on-demand gear. With hundreds of traps per trip, that compounds into a material reduction in daily productivity—one that, for certain gear configurations, rivals the purchase cost of the equipment itself.

Interoperability is another unresolved and critical challenge. There are more than a dozen manufacturers currently developing ropeless systems, and currently, there is no demonstrated ability for those systems to communicate or integrate with one another at scale. Research conducted by MITRE determined that acoustic interoperability among on-demand gear systems has not been demonstrated in busy, mixed-gear fisheries alongside mobile groundfish and scallop operations. This matters not only for practical fishing operations, but for safety and enforcement. Without interoperability, it is difficult for fishermen to locate one another’s submerged gear and avoid dangerous conflicts. Yet despite this acknowledged gap, federal communications have at times suggested that the interoperability challenge is closer to resolution than the evidence supports.

As you are aware, industry groups including the New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) have consistently and publicly shared their serious concerns about a required transition to ropeless gear as the primary management strategy to avoid conflicts with NARWs. In public comments submitted in response to Executive Order 14276, Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, NEFSA wrote that ropeless fishing gear “presents serious safety risks to fishermen, increases the likelihood of vessel interactions and gear loss, and is fundamentally incompatible with mixed-use fishing grounds”. MLA has communicated similar concerns to the Senate and House Appropriations Committee, the Maine Delegation, and NMFS directly, warning that requiring full compliance with ropeless gear would result in, “a substantial increase in operating costs” and “would undermine Maine’s owner-operator model and could create pressure for consolidation of the fishery.”

You heard these concerns directly from lobstermen at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum during the Federal Fisheries Leadership seminar. Lobstermen shared with you firsthand their concerns about the cost of this technology, and the dangers of not knowing where gear is placed in the Gulf of Maine. Small vessels simply would not have access to capital, deck space, crew, or familiarity with high-tech systems to survive a transition to ropeless fishing.

We believe a patchwork of flexible, dynamic, adaptive approaches that reflect real-world conditions, ongoing technology development, and meaningful stakeholder input offers the best opportunity to maintain a successful fishery, protect right whales, and preserve the working waterfronts and coastal communities that depend on it. We are supportive of the state-federal partnership through which NMFS has been providing support and cooperation to Maine DMR to develop a dynamic management strategy that includes development of a monitoring plan. We encourage NMFS to provide additional engagement from the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office to make this a feasible management option, prior to the drafting and publication of future rulemaking.

We appreciate your willingness to listen, and we encourage NMFS to approach future rulemaking with a genuine commitment to flexibility and co-development directly with stakeholders. A single, uniform solution, particularly one that mandates technology that is not yet proven at scale, is not the right path forward for this fishery or for the conservation goals we share. We look forward to continuing this conversation and welcome the opportunity to work with you and your team directly.

Sincerely,

Warming Waters in the Gulf of Maine May Affect the Future of Lobsters

April 6, 2026 — Curt Brown spent his childhood harvesting lobsters along the coast of Maine. As an adult, he went on to earn a Master of Science from the University of Maine, observing the very waters where he spent years fishing for the crustaceans.

With a rapidly changing climate, many researchers worry that Maine’s lobsters will eventually move north to colder waters. Brown isn’t so sure, though, seeing all of the forces affecting the ecosystem as highly complex. His studies in marine biology and policy, along with his continued work as a lobsterman, have helped him understand that the lobster industry depends upon various factors, some beyond man’s control.

Last year, the state of Maine’s lobster fisheries harvested 78.8 million pounds of lobsters, and according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), commercial harvesters earned $619 million.

Synonymous with the New England state, lobsters have a documented history in Maine that dates back to 1605. Recent studies, though, show that climate change and a shift in currents are warming up the local waters. In a now well-quoted 2015 study led by Andrew Pershing, researchers found that the surface temperature of the Gulf of Maine is warming 99 percent faster than the rest of the ocean.

Read the full article at Inside Climate News