Saving Seafood

MAINE: Lobstermen propose enlarging fishing area in the waters of Englishman Bay for small-scale operators

July 27, 2026 — In a move to protect small-scale lobstermen from tangled gear and bigger boats, the Lobster Zone A Council voted unanimously last week to advance a proposal expanding a restricted fishing area in Englishman Bay.

The plan aims to make fishing safer and more productive for fishermen out of Jonesport, Beals and Jonesboro.

Regulations now limit a section of the bay to lobstermen using buoyed lines with up to four traps per line — a rule lobstermen established in a 2011 agreement.

The new proposal pushes that restricted zone out 3 miles to federal waters on the western end, maintains the existing eastern border and allows fishermen inside the zone to set up to five traps per line.

The proposal also aligns with legislative changes to right whale protections set to expire in December 2028, though the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee voted last week to extend the start of those rules to 2035. Full congressional approval is required to enact the delay.

Read the full story at The Maine Monitor

EPA loosens restrictions on lobster boat diesel engines

July 22, 2026 — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a new exemption that the Trump administration says will loosen environmental regulations on diesel engines for U.S. commercial lobstermen.

The EPA is exempting a new lobster boat model from Tier 4 engine requirements, which were adopted in 2008. It’s something the federal agency says will, for the first time, support American boat builders, lobstermen, and the New England maritime communities.

“The commercial fishing industry is an important part of New England’s heritage and economy, and we’re committed to practical implementation of environmental regulations. This decision demonstrates that in the Trump administration, environmental protection and economic opportunity can go hand in hand,” EPA Regional Administrator Mark Sanborn told the Herald over the phone.

“The exemption to the Tier 4 requirement allows both designers and law enforcement to utilize Tier 3 engines, which better meet their needs. The exhaust engine must meet Tier 3 emission standards and be labeled so it cannot be used on other vessels,” he said.

Read the full story at the Boston Herald

Millions of seafloor images fuel scallop stock assessments

July 13, 2026 — The cameras are rolling again on Georges Bank, where NOAA Fisheries scientists are collecting millions of images of the seafloor to help shape future management of the Atlantic sea scallop fishery.

The agency’s annual Habitat Camera, or HabCam, survey completed its second leg in late May after spending nine days photographing the seafloor across Nantucket Lightship, the Great South Channel and Georges Bank, roughly 60 to 100 miles offshore. Unlike traditional research surveys that collect animals, HabCam relies on a towed camera system that documents scallops and other bottom-dwelling species without disturbing them.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Florida Keys lobster industry, reliant on Chinese consumers, braces for potential tariff impact

April 24, 2025 — In Conch Key, Kelly Cordova’s crews are getting traps ready for lobster season.

She’s been on the water her whole life.

“This is our family’s business,” said Cordova. “My mom and dad started when they were 15.”

But even as the Trump administration softens its tone on China tariffs, there’s still uncertainty over the possibility of reciprocal tariffs tacked on to the live lobster they export.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s really, really scary right now,” said Cordova.

Spiny lobster is a multi-million dollar industry in Florida and the Florida Keys are the biggest producer, harvesting nearly 4 million pounds last season.

Read the full story at Local 10

MAINE: Lobster industry hails executive order easing fishery regulations

April 22, 2025 — Lobster trade associations in Maine are hailing an executive order from the White House that would ease or eliminate regulations on seafood fisheries.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association “has been fighting government overregulation for years and won a historic court case that challenged draconian whale rules taking a big step forward in ending this abuse of power,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. The executive order “recognizes the challenges our fishing families and communities face and we appreciate the commitment to reduce burdensome regulations and strengthen the competitiveness of American seafood.”

“Maine fishermen have been supporting Maine’s economy for generations,” said Virginia Olsen, a lobster fisherman and director of the Maine Lobstering Union.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

New study paints gloomy picture of climate change’s impact on commercial fishing

April 22, 2025 — A new study of some of California’s most commercially significant aquatic species paints a grim picture for the future of the state’s fishing industry under the growing threat of climate change.

The study, compiled by a host of researchers including federal and state scientists as well as researchers from UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, looked at 34 aquatic species in an attempt to gauge how each would fare under predicted climate change scenarios.

Among the species studied were Dungeness crab, red abalone, Pacific herring, Pismo clams, pink shrimp, Pacific bonito and California spiny lobster. The group ranked each by their level of vulnerability to changing environmental conditions.

“The most striking thing that we found is that among the species that were ranked as the most highly vulnerable happened to also be some of California’s economically valuable and culturally important species,” said Mikaela Provost, assistant professor of fisheries ecology at UC Davis and co-author of the study.

California’s oceans are highly productive due to seasonal upwelling which keeps water temperatures cool and filled with nutrients. But models of future conditions forecast disruption through rising temperatures, deoxygenation and potential changes in circulation.

Read the full story at NBC Bay Area

Proposed fund could help Maine lobstermen test new fishing gear

April 28, 2023 — State lawmakers are considering a measure that would create a new fund to help lobster fishermen test gear designed to reduce entanglement risks to endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The proposed fund would set aside $1 million for each of the next two years. The money would be paid to lobster fishermen who test ropeless and other kinds of new fishing gear designed to minimize interactions with right whales.

The most recent federal spending bill set aside nearly $20 million for fishing gear.

But Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said it’s reasonable that lobstermen receive a stipend for the work itself.

Read the full story at Maine Public

MAINE: Lobstermen frustrated by regulations after new study shows whale entanglements decline

June 30, 2022 — A new report has Maine lobstermen saying, “I told you so.”

The report says large whale entanglements dropped in 2020, including for the right whale.

Lobstermen in Maine have long argued they should not be blamed for the right whales’ population decline, which makes this new study from NOAA all the more frustrating.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Harpswell lobster boat captain Forrest Moody said. “This is what we know.”

Moody calls the new changes to the industry “life-altering.”

“There hasn’t always been evidence to prove or say what they were asking us to do but we still were, we were still made to do it,” Moody said.

Read the full story at WGME-TV

UMaine and lobster industry team up on innovative collaboration to map Maine’s fishing effort

June 6, 2022 — The University of Maine is leading an innovative new research project to collaborate with Maine’s lobster industry to explore the potential to use data owned by commercial lobstermen to map fishing effort. These data may be used to minimize conflict from potential future offshore wind development.

The state of Maine has set an aggressive goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and is looking to floating offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine to supply renewable power, as well as economic benefit.

Participants in Maine’s commercial fisheries are concerned that offshore wind development could result in lost fishing grounds and pose significant navigation and safety concerns. While Maine’s lobster fishery accounted for 82 percent of the value of Maine’s commercial seafood landings in 2021, there are no comprehensive data on where and when Maine lobstermen fish. To minimize the impact on Maine’s lobster fishery, better data are needed on the location, type and intensity of fishing activity in the Gulf of Maine.

Kate Beard-Tisdale is leading this collaborative project to use data already being collected by commercial lobstermen to fill these data gaps.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

New England lobster, crab boats could begin using experimental ropeless gear with federal permits

June 6, 2022 — Federal fisheries officials are proposing a special permit to allow up to 100 New England lobster and crab boats to use experimental high-tech systems to retrieve their traps. That would mark a big expansion in the development of fishing systems that could help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The technology uses remote-control systems to locate and trigger traps or buoy lines to the surface, reducing the use of vertical rope lines that can entangle the right whales.

Henry Milliken supervises a prototyping program for the so-called “ropeless” gear at the Northeast Marine Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public