February 5, 2025 — A controversial proposal looking to increase the minimum catch sizes for lobster has officially been repealed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
The vote happened Tuesday and came a month after the Maine Department of Marine Resources announced it wouldn’t be following the new rules due to push back from local lobstermen.
February 4, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission have walked back new regulations that New Hampshire and Maine lobstermen said would have dire economic consequences to their industry.
The commission voted Tuesday to repeal key elements of a proposed increase to minimum allowable catch sizes for Gulf of Maine lobster. The announcement comes after officials in Maine and New Hampshire, which together account for most of U.S. lobster landings, announced they would not cooperate with the proposal.
“New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) thanks the commission for heeding the voice of lobstermen,” said NEFSA COO and fourth-generation lobsterman Dustin Delano. “Raising catch sizes at this time would bankrupt many lobstermen and surrender the U.S. market to foreign competitors. NEFSA is grateful that the commission has chosen to support our historic trade, which contributes billions to New England’s economy and shapes the character of the region.”
February 3, 2025 –A team of volunteer divers recovered a body from inside the cabin of sunken fishing vessel Sudden Impact, which was carrying two Maine fishermen who have been missing for multiple weeks.
On Jan. 18, a 34-foot scallop vessel carrying Chester Barrett and his son, Aaron Barrett, changed course due to poor sea conditions and did not arrive at its expected destination.
The two fishermen had left Cobscook Bay State Park around 5 a.m. that day. They had been expected to return home to South Addison from Edmunds that evening.
January 31, 2025 — Leaders from the U.S. and Canada’s lobster fishing communities came together in Bar Harbor Wednesday to tackle what they said are pressing issues facing the industry.
At the top of mind at this year’s 21st annual meeting was the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Canadian products.
“These tariffs, if they actually happen, will badly impact Maine harvesters and the Maine lobster sector — just as it will impact Canadians,” said Geoff Irvine, the executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.
Solving this issue could mean lobbying U.S. political figures, Irvine said.
January 31, 2025 — Conservation groups are praising a recent decision to reinstate protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales in a particularly precarious stretch of ocean off the coast of Massachusetts.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston decided Thursday to restrict lobster fishing, which in turn restores protections for endangered right whales. That decision overturned a district court verdict by reinstating a 2024 National Marine Fisheries Service rule that cordoned off a 200 square mile area of federal waters between February and April, when right whales are present.
“The First Circuit’s decision represents a major victory for right whale conservation,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, who argued the case for conservation groups. “The wedge closure affects only a handful of lobstermen for three months but protects right whales from the deadly fishing gear entanglements driving this species towards extinction.”
Found along the East Coast, the whales’ migratory paths overlap with highly productive lobster fishing areas in Maine and Massachusetts, making entanglements in fishing gear one of the major threats for the animals. With a population of less than 400 and even fewer reproductively active females, right whales are approaching extinction with more than half a dozen threats to their existence, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
January 31, 2025 — Maine Republican legislators wrote a letter to President Donald Trump thanking him for his recent action on offshore wind and asking him to take it a step further.
The letter sent Thursday was authored by Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport). Offshore wind was a key issue for Paul in her reelection campaign last year after the state announced its hopes to build a port in her district to support its larger goals to develop 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine by 2040.
“Common sense, economics and environmental concerns are against the offshore wind projects proposed by Democrats for the Gulf of Maine,” Paul said in a news release Thursday, noting her appreciation for Trump’s swift action on the matter.
She went on to say that she and her Republican legislative colleagues “are asking his administration to finish the job before irrevocable harm is inflicted on marine wildlife, coastal communities and our quality of life.”
January 30, 2025 — Researchers from the University of Maine have created a new, holistic measure to study the resilience of the Maine lobster industry, which is drawing praise from industry leaders for identifying the structural and market factors that impacted it in recent years.
That industry has seen dramatic fluctuations in value in recent years, spiking to a record USD 724 million (EUR 694 million) in 2021 before dropping to USD 388 million (EUR 372 million) in 2022. The UMaine team said it hopes to quantify some of the challenges causing those flucuations in new ways, which can help fisheries management – something members of the industry said is sorely needed.
January 29, 2025 — Back in October, Maine’s fishing future received a significant boost when U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, alongside Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, announced over $2 million in grant funding for workforce development.
The funding, awarded through NOAA’s Young Fishermen’s Development Program (YFDP), is directed toward two local fishing organizations dedicated to training the next generation of Maine’s commercial fishermen and women.
The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA) will receive $1,771,092 to develop an online knowledge hub packed with educational content for young fishermen and women. The resources will focus on career development, industry training, and wellness, helping new entrants to the industry navigate the work and the challenges of physical and mental health on the water.
January 28, 2025 — The New England lobster industry is facing some potential challenges.
Maine and New Hampshire have announced their decision to withdraw the proposed gauge increase to the minimum legal size for lobsters being caught, following strong opposition from the fishing community. Massachusetts has announced that it still supports the gauge increase, even following recent announcements from Maine and New Hampshire.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) recently held a meeting in Augusta to discuss the proposal which aimed at raising the minimum size limits for lobsters by 1/16 of an inch. The proposed as intended to address a reported 35 percent decline in the lobster population within Lobster Management Area 1 (LMA 1), as highlighted by data from the Atlantics States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). The proposal has faced fierce opposition from the lobstering communities, who feared the economic repercussions of the increase.
New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) has strongly advocated for opposing the increase. Two days ago, NEFSA COO Dustin Delano stated, “Imagine losing 10 percent or 15 percent of your landings. For a fisherman catching 40,000-50,000 pounds of lobster annually, that could be a loss of up to $40,000 or $50,000- more than half of their take home income. Expenses like bait, fuel, gear, and boat payments would not decrease, but their livelihoods would.”
January 28, 2024 — Coming up in February, Midcoast Mainers will see their favorite Maine shrimp on the market again—for a very short time.
Only seven fishermen were chosen out of 40 applicants to participate in a Winter Sampling Research Program for Northern shrimp and will be allowed to catch 58,000 pounds of Maine shrimp for the first time in more than a decade. Shrimpers will collect samples by either trawling and trapping in one of three regions of the Maine coast: Western Maine (Kittery to Phippsburg), Midcoast Maine (Phippsburg to Owls Head), or Eastern Maine (east of Owls Head).
In contrast, when the fishery was forced to close due to a stock collapse in 2013, more than 10 million pounds were caught. At that time, the average price per pound was $1.81.
This is driving up a supply and demand frenzy for Northern Maine shrimp, which has not been seen before in Maine.
All but one fisherman chosen to catch Maine shrimp are located in the Midcoast.
Two Midcoast markets, Delano Seafood Market in Waldoboro and Port Clyde Fresh Catch, have announced they will be selling shrimp on a temporary basis—and people are lining up out the door.