September 8, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries’ Sea Grant has announced a grant of USD 2 million (EUR 1.68 million) to support the Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative.
The grant is intended, according to a release from NOAA, to “address scientific and stakeholder needs associated with this important fishery.” The nine research projects earning funding are focused gaps in scientific knowledge about how the American lobster is being impacted by environmental changes.
July 27, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment will be peer-reviewed on August 10-14, 2020 via webinar. The assessment will evaluate the status of American lobster stocks along the U.S. Atlantic coast and inform the management of this species. The peer review is open to the public, except for discussion of confidential commercial landings data and the Peer Review Panel’s final deliberations, when the public and all other workshop participants will be asked to exit the webinar. Webinar space is limited to 25 participants, so please contact Tina Berger at tberger@asmfc.org if you are interested in listening in on the webinar.
Please note the draft assessment report and the peer review report will not be made publically available until mid-October as part of the American Lobster Management Board’s meeting materials, since neither report is considered final until they are accepted by the Board for management use.
It’s anticipated that the benchmark assessment and peer review report will be considered by the American Lobster Management Board in October. A copy of the peer review agenda can be found at – http://www.asmfc.org/files/
For more information, please contact Tina Berger, Director of Communications, at tberger@asmfc.org or 703.
February 22, 2019 — The salt water of Casco Bay is in Alex Todd’s blood.
“I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he said as he headed out off Chebeague Island with the sun just starting to peak above the horizon.
His boat, the Jacob & Joshua, named after his sons are out on these waters year-round.
Todd’s 17-year-old son Joshua was spending his February school vacation out on the boat fishing for scallops.
Joshua and sternman Levi Gloden pulled in shellfish in subzero temperatures as ice started to build up on the deck.
“It’s harder on them than it is on me,” Alex Todd said.
As the boat’s captain, Todd careful picks locations to drag the ocean floor for the prized shellfish, all from the comfort of the heated cabin where he sips his morning coffee.
“Every once in a while I’ll open the door and say, ‘Now do you think I should take a shirt off or? You know what I’m getting a little hot,’” Todd said. “I get a kick out of it but they don’t see the humor as much.”
That sense of humor is what keeps the crew going through the harsh winter months.
With every catch, Joshua and Levi alternate jobs, then sort and measure every shellfish by hand and throwing them in baskets.
November 30, 2018 — Trade hostility from across the ocean was supposed to take a snip out of the U.S. lobster business, but the industry is getting a lifeline from its northern neighbor.
Heavy demand from Canada is buoying American lobster as both countries head into the busy holiday export season, according to federal statistics and members of the industry. It’s a positive sign for U.S. seafood dealers and fishermen, even as the industry struggles with Chinese tariffs.
China emerged as a major consumer of American lobster earlier this decade, but the country slapped heavy tariffs on exports in July amid its trade kerfuffle with President Donald Trump’s administration. Lobster exports slowed to a crawl.
Industry watchers forecast the move as a potential calamity for U.S. seafood, but Canada has boosted the value of its lobster imports from America by more than a third so far this year, up to more than $180 million through September.
Canada has its own lobster fishing industry, which harvests the same species as U.S. fishermen, and the country sells lobsters domestically as well as to Europe and Asia. The country’s importing so many from the U.S. this year because it needs enough supply to send to China, said members of the lobster industry on both sides of the border.
“They go there to go to China, to avoid the tariffs,” said Spiros Tourkakis, executive vice president of East Coast Seafood, a dealer in Topsfield, Massachusetts.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Seattle Times
August 20, 2018 — Building on the success of its Gloucester Fresh seafood branding campaign, the city of Gloucester plans to apply the same formula to help brand and market Massachusetts lobsters to lobster lovers the world over.
Couldn’t happen in a better place.
If you go by the numbers, there is no better Bay State lobster port to take up the banner for distinguishing Massachusetts lobsters from those hauled from the waters of neighboring states.
Gloucester has dominated the lobster trade in Massachusetts and the industry’s high profile here has helped mitigate some of the misery foisted upon the community by the continuing groundfish crisis.
It is the state’s No. 1 port in both number of active lobstermen — an average of 136 annually during the past five years — and amount of lobster annually landed. Gloucester has averaged 2.94 million pounds per year over the past five years, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.
During that period, no other Massachusetts lobster port ever claimed more than 60 active lobstermen in any given year, and none but Gloucester ever cracked double-digits in the percentage of statewide landings.
August 2, 2018 — One of the most interesting things about living in Maine is seeing all the people who come to visit us every summer.
But one group’s annual appearance is something that we don’t look forward to much – it’s the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its annual attack on the lobster fishery.
This year, PETA has tried to make a splash by buying advertising at the Portland International Jetport, hoping to dissuade visitors from eating lobster while they’re here. It features a picture of a lobster that says: “I’m ME, not Meat! See the individual. Go Vegan.”
The question of whether lobsters see themselves as individuals separate from all other beings on the planet with a life that has a beginning and an end – in other words, whether they have consciousness – is too much to answer in this space. Let’s just say we strongly doubt it.
But as to the question of whether eating Maine lobsters can be considered ethical, we do have an opinion. It is.
The Maine lobster fishery is one of the most sustainable in the world. The men and women who bait traps have a history of self-imposed conservation measures and are governed by thoughtful regulations going back to 1879.
August 2, 2018 — The following was released by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation:
Please join the CFRF and its collaborators for a Lobster and Jonah Crab Research Session on Thursday, August 30, 2018 from 4-6 PM at the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island. The Research Session will include:
To read more about the project and for project updates visit the project web page here.
RSVP to Aubrey at (401) 515-4892 or aellertson@cfrfoundation.
The research session is being held at the Commercial Fisheries Center of RI, Building 61B, URI East Farm Campus, Kingston, RI (click here for directions).
July 27, 2018 — Bob Baines does not believe new foreign tariffs will have an immediate impact on the Maine lobster industry.
“The state is catching mostly new-shell lobsters that don’t ship well to China or the EU yet,” he said, plucking a few twisting lobsters from his haul to display the small number mature enough for an overseas voyage.
That won’t last, Baines said, and harder shells will come with more difficult trade barriers.
Moving quickly around the deck of his lobster boat Thrasher, Baines unloaded flat crates of live catch onto a dock adjacent to the Spruce Head Fisherman’s Co-Op, where he serves as president of the South Thomaston nonprofit that brokers sales for more than 40 dues-paying members.
July 26, 2018 — New England’s lobster industry faces big new challenges in selling to Europe and China, but the trouble hasn’t caused prices to budge much for American consumers.
The business is in the midst of its busiest part of the year, when tourists flock to coastal states with a beachside lobster dinner in mind. Summer is also when prices tend to fall a bit because it’s when the majority of lobsters are caught.
But the prices haven’t fallen much. Retailers are selling live lobsters in the $7 to $12 per pound (per 0.45 kilogram) range in Maine, where the American lobster industry is based. That’s not too far behind recent summers.
“It’s starting to pick up, so of course the price is dropping. But that’s pretty normal,” said William Adler, a lobsterman out of Green Harbor, Massachusetts. “Now it’s starting to come alive, and prices are still good right now.”
Members of the industry are concerned about heavy new tariffs applied by China to U.S. seafood this month, because that country is a major lobster buyer. Canada also recently brokered a deal with the European Union to remove tariffs on Canadian lobster exports to Europe, while the U.S. has no such agreement.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Akron Legal News
July 26, 2018 –In celebration of one of New England’s favorite crustaceans, Sen. Jack Reed is joining in the fight to designate Sept. 25 as “National Lobster Day.”
Reed is joining a bipartisan group of Senators from New England to introduce the new legislation. He said “National Lobster Day” would honor the lobsters’ economic, historic, cultural and culinary contributions to Rhode Island and across the nation.
“National Lobster Day is a fun and tasty way to pay tribute to our local lobstermen and women and the important economic impact lobsters have on Rhode Island’s economy,” Reed said. “It is a great way to celebrate an industry that supports hundreds of Rhode Island families and helps bring tourists to the area to enjoy delicious, freshly caught lobster and seafood.”
The resolution is being led by Maine’s Sen. Angus King and Sen. Susan Collins.
Reed also said “National Lobster Day” would help Rhode Island’s restaurants boost sales.
“Whether you enjoy lobster fresh off the boat, or with fresh-made pasta, Rhode Island offers plenty of ways to join the celebration,” Reed said.