Saving Seafood

MASSCHUSETTS: Cape Cod lobstermen fear loss of livelihood due to Massachusetts red tape

June 23, 2025 — Cape Cod lobstermen are trying to fend off state and federal regulations that they say could put them out of business in an effort that an attorney describes as a “misguided push for uniformity.”

Beginning July 1, lobstermen will face strict rules when harvesting certain female lobsters in state and federal waters around outer Cape Cod, extending from Chatham to Provincetown’s Race Point, including a part of upper Cape Cod Bay.

The Outer Cape Lobstermen’s Association, a group of roughly 70 Massachusetts-licensed lobster trap fishers, is fighting back against the state Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, reopening a decades-old federal complaint.

The dispute will be heard in a status conference scheduled for Monday in Boston federal court.

Lobstermen in the Outer Cape Cod Conservation Management Area have been allowed to catch so-called V-notched lobsters under a 2000 settlement, but the rules set to go into effect next week will essentially ban that fishing, according to an attorney for the association.

In 2000, the association and the Commonwealth established a “regulatory regime” for outer Cape Cod distinct from other lobster conservation management areas in the state. The settlement permitted lobstermen in the region to fish for most V-notched lobsters in exchange for stricter gauge size requirements.

Read the full article at Boston Herald

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick vows to support Maine lobster, suggests industry will be exempt from tariffs on Canada

June 9, 2025 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick vowed to protect and support Maine lobster during a hearing on his department’s budget plans, while suggesting that Maine lobster processed in Canada would likely be unaffected by new tariffs.

“This administration views the Maine lobster industry as an American treasure, and we need to protect it,” Lutnick told lawmakers during a 4 June budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

EU open to extending lobster deal in package on Trump tariffs, FT reports

May 28, 2025 — The European Union is open to extending a deal which allows the duty-free import of U.S. lobsters as part of a broader package aimed at removing U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing two officials.

The EU’s current regulation eliminating customs duties for fresh and frozen lobsters from the U.S. expires on July 31. The lobster deal between the U.S. and EU was struck in 2020 during Trump’s first term.

Read the full article at Reuters

Cooler water bottom temperatures could aid New England fisheries

May 28, 2025 — Cold water flowing into the the Gulf of Maine from Canada’s Maritimes region this spring and summer could have a positive impact on key seafood species whose U.S. populations have plummeted due to climate change-induced warming waters, according to new NOAA research.

Data shows that since late 2023, a shift in the eastern Gulf Stream has helped chill bottom-water temperatures in the Northwest Atlantic, which could result in an influx of cold water into northernmost New England. Researchers from the agency’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center say flows from Canada’s Labrador Slope and Scotian Shelf could result in the Gulf of Maine being 0.9 to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the summer average.

The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming ocean regions in the world, according to NOAA, where rising water temperatures have spurred migration of lobster and other fish species toward Canadian waters in the Bay of Fundy. The result has been a steep dropoff in southern New England’s lobster economy to the benefit of lobstermen in the Gulf of Maine.

Read the full article at E&E News

MAINE: Maine lobstermen remain mighty political force despite shrinking numbers

May 12, 2025 — Maine lobstermen once held more than 7,000 commercial licenses, but now about half many actively fish for Maine’s most valuable catch.

The decline has occurred since the late 1990s as Maine’s commercial fishing industry, which is dominated by lobstermen, faces increasing challenges in the form of climate change, increased regulation and competition for space in the Gulf of Maine.

While the drop has been gradual, its effects could be far-reaching, given lobstermen’s central role in Maine’s coastal economy and their political might in both Augusta and Washington D.C.

On the local level, declining numbers of lobstermen could take away a key economic support for Maine towns and businesses that rely on the fishery.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

American Lobster Board Approves Addendum XXXII to Repeal Addendum XXVII Gauge and Escape Vent Measures

May 6, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board approved Addendum XXXII to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. The Addendum repeals all gauge and escape vent size measures from Addendum XXVII. Measures related to the v-notch possession definition and the issuance of trap tags are maintained.

In October 2023, under Addendum XXVII a series of changes to the current gauge and escape vent sizes in Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs) 1 (Gulf of Maine), 3 (federal waters), and Outer Cape Cod was triggered based on observed declines in recruit abundance indices. The Board postponed the implementation of Addendum XXVII to January 1, 2025 to allow the Gulf of Maine states the opportunity to coordinate with Canada regarding possible trade implications and give the industry and gauge makers additional time to prepare for these changes. In October 2024, the Board further delayed implementation of the gauge and vent size measures, and v-notch possession definition of Addendum XXVII to July 1, 2025.

Addendum XXXII responds to industry concerns about the potential economic impacts of an increase to the minimum gauge size in the Gulf of Maine. By repealing the gauge and vent size measures, the Gulf of Maine states will have the opportunity to engage with the lobster industry, including Lobster Conservation Management Area Teams, to identify alternative conservation measures to protect the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank stock. Maine and New Hampshire reported to the Board that they have already begun convening stakeholder meetings to discuss the state of the fishery and potential management approaches.

Addendum XXXII will be available on the Commission website, asmfc.org, on the American lobster webpage by next week. For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

 

Salmon and lobster in harmony

March 31, 2025 — There is quite a pile of evidence at this point that wild lobster populations have historically co-existed very nicely with salmon farming, but new chapters of this story continue to be written. 

Just recently, in November 2024, a lawsuit was filed by a U.S.-based environmental group Conservation Law Foundation against Cooke Aquaculture, contending that its salmon farming sites off the Maine coast involve dischargement of “pollutants such as fish feces, dead fish and trash.” 

Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, has stated publicly that the lawsuit was a surprise as this group has worked with salmon farmers to develop environmental standards. He did not respond to a request for further comment, but Joel Richardson, vice-president of Public Relations at Cooke, says it’s irresponsible for this group or anyone else to claim that modern marine finfish aquaculture harms lobsters.

“It is simply not true,” says Richardson. “Salmon aquaculture and the lobster fishery have co-existed in Atlantic Canada and Maine waters for more than 40 years under the existing environmental compliance criteria. Cooke’s Atlantic Canadian and Maine salmon farms are routinely inspected by government regulators and subject to regular monitoring reports. Lobster landings are not negatively affected by Atlantic salmon farms. In fact, lobster fishers are welcome to set lobster gear alongside and within aquaculture lease boundaries and they tell us they have success in every location where we operate. We support wild fisheries harvesters and their families 100 percent. We all need strong working waterfronts in our rural coastal communities.” 

Read the full article at Aquaculture North America

NOAA Issues Ropeless Gear Advisory to Mariners as Testing Begins

March 29, 2025 — NOAA Fisheries is testing ropeless fishing gear for lobster and crab around the Gulf of Maine and around Cape Cod.

The testing is being carried out in areas that are otherwise restricted to fishing for certain portions of the year.

The gear does not have a marking buoy on the surface to avoid entanglements with sea life, instead only utilizing ropes when it’s time to be collected.

Read the full article at CapeCod.com

MAINE: Alternative fishing gear in focus

March 26, 2025 — Demonstrations and discussions focused on alternative lobster fishing gear will take place on April 1, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hosted by the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries in partnership with the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the demos will take place at the Stonington public landing/Hagen Dock while the discussions will be held at MCCF at 13 Atlantic Ave.

Read the full article at the Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: MLA honors board, rallies for the future at annual meeting

March 18, 2025 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) annual meeting took place at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum and was anything but routine this year.

As industry leaders gathered to discuss the latest challenges and victories in the state’s lobster industry, they also took a moment to recognize the end of an era—Kristan Porter, the longtime MLA board president and Cutler fisherman, announced his retirement from the role, along with board vice president Craig Stewart from Long Island, and Laurin Brooks who fishes out from Kennebunk. 

Lawsuits, Offshore Wind, Industry Resilience

Among the key updates shared, the MLA’s acting COO, Patrice McCarron, reaffirmed their stance against offshore wind development, highlighting progress in its legal battle with Monterey Bay Aquarium, and urged lobstermen to stay engaged in policy discussions, especially regarding the controversial gauge increase.

“You may have also heard the good news: the Monterey Bay Aquarium lawsuit will get the green light to go forward,” McCarron said. “We haven’t won the case, but we do now have the green light so that we would be expecting discovery and possibly going to trial in the near future.”

The lawsuit, a defamation case launched by the MLA and the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA), challenges the Aquarium’s controversial decision to red-list Maine lobster over concerns about North Atlantic right whale entanglements. The case moving forward signals a significant step in the industry’s ongoing fight for fair representation.

The MLA also addressed other regulatory battles, including a pushback on federal electronic tracking mandates. “We certainly know where people are; we no longer have to guess, but they should not be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” McCarron stated. “You guys should not be tracked when using your vessels for personal reasons.”

The Maine lobster fishery continues to grapple with bait shortages and federal policy shifts, but as the meeting made clear, the industry is far from standing still.

Read the full article at National Fisherman