Saving Seafood

MAINE: Marine Resources Commissioner pulls proposed regulation to increase the legal lobster size

January 14, 2025 — The head of the Maine Department of Marine Resources said the agency is dropping a controversial proposal to increase the minimum size for lobster.

Commissioner Pat Keliher announced the change Thursday night during a heated public meeting with lobstermen in Augusta. Federal fisheries regulators approved the minimum size increase in response to studies showing sharp declines in young lobster in the Gulf of Maine. But lobstermen have questioned that data and predicted the change will benefit Canadian lobstermen.

Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a lobsterman from Winter Harbor, said DMR’s shift is quote “great news.”

“Lobstermen turned out by the hundreds to oppose this. We were going to get devastated by Canada taking our lobsters if we had implemented this without an agreement with them. So it’s good to put a pause on this rule and keep our market in tact,” Faulkingham said.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: Maine officials say noncompliance with regional lobster size standards could limit exports

January 14, 2025 — Maine lobstermen are “off the hook” when it comes to new catch size restrictions.

The decision to shelf the new restriction came after a tense meeting with Maine lobstermen where a state leader swore at a man in the audience.

“It’s uncharted waters,” New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association COO Dustin Delano said.

It’s a decision that will affect all Maine lobsterman.

The argument about Maine’s minimum lobster size got choppy at Thursday night’s Department of Marine Resources public hearing,

DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher got into a heated exchange with fishermen about changing minimum lobster gauge limitations.

Read the full article at WGME

Plan for stricter lobster fishing rules scrapped amid strong opposition from lobstermen

January 13, 2024 — Fishing regulators on Friday scrapped a plan for stricter fishing rules amid concerns about a decline in baby lobsters in the warming waters off New England.

The regulators were looking to institute a new rule that fishermen need to abide by a larger minimum size for the lobsters they trap. The change is only 1/16th of an inch or 1.6 millimeters, but regulators have said it will help preserve the population of the valuable crustaceans, as many small lobsters will need to be tossed back to the ocean.

Some fishermen have argued the change is unnecessary and will be disruptive to one of the country’s most lucrative seafood industries when it is already stressed by warming waters, surging expenses and new rules to protect whales. They’ve argued for the new rules to be delayed or tossed out.

Read the full article at the Associated Press 

MASSACHSUETTS: Lobster group hopes state follows Maine, scraps stricter fishing rules

January 13, 2025 — Maine fishing regulators on Friday scrapped a plan for stricter fishing rules amid concerns about a decline in baby lobsters in the warming waters off New England, and a group representing Massachusetts lobstermen hopes this state follows suit.

The regulators were looking to institute a new federal rule, Addendum 27, that fishermen need to abide by a larger minimum size for the lobsters they trap. The change is only 1/16th of an inch or 1.6 millimeters, but regulators have said it will help preserve the population of the valuable crustaceans, as many small lobsters will need to be tossed back to the ocean.

Read the full article at the Gloucester Daily Times

MAINE: State of Maine sides with lobstermen, decides to pull minimum lobster size rule

January 10, 2025 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has decided to pull a regulation that would have increased the minimum allowable catch size for lobsters amid strong opposition from members of the state’s lobster industry.

Dozens of lobstermen voiced their concerns during a public hearing about the proposed rule change, which would have increased the minimum catch size from 3 1/4 inches to 3 5/16 inches. The lobstermen argued the change of a sixteenth of an inch may seem small, but they feared it would have resulted in significant financial losses for their businesses.

In a statement, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher said he decided to pull the regulation with the approval of Gov. Janet Mills following Thursday night’s hearing after lobstermen made it “loud and clear” they were unified in their opposition to the rule change.

Read the full article at WMTW

MAINE: Maine lobstermen to voice concerns over new size regulations at public hearing

January 9, 2025 — A public hearing will be held on Thursday in Augusta about new regulations for lobstermen that would increase the minimum lobster size they can harvest.

The lobster industry is an economic driver in the state and some Maine lobstermen worry the industry will sink with new regulations that would change the minimum size of a lobster harvested by fractions of an inch, from 3 and 1/4 inches to 3 and 5/16 inches.

The rule is set to go into effect on July 1.

Read the full article at WGME

 

Maine Lobstering Union’s Lobster 207 wins $5M settlement

January 9, 2025 — The Maine Lobstering Union’s cooperative, Lobster 207, recently closed a significant chapter with a settlement exceeding $5 million, marking the end of a five-year legal battle against its former CEO, Warren Pettegrow, and his family.

This victory represents not only a financial win but also a pivotal moment in the co-op’s mission to uphold fairness in Maine’s famed lobster industry.

According to Maine Biz, the dispute began after Lobster 207 purchased the wholesale division of Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound in 2017, bringing Warren Pettegrow on as CEO. The Pettegrows agreed to step away from the wholesale business to avoid competition with Lobster 207. However, by 2019, allegations of financial misconduct and breaches of this agreement surfaced, leading to a lawsuit in federal court. The co-op accused the Pettegrows of fraudulent practices, which included issuing false invoices and competing directly with the business they had sold to Lobster 207.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

MAINE: Select group of Maine’s fishing industry will get rare chance to catch Northern Shrimp

January 8, 2025 — Dozens of fishermen have applied for a rare chance to catch Northern Shrimp once again, after the population has been off limits for over a decade.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources will soon select just seven members of Maine’s fishing industry to participate in a winter sampling research program for northern shrimp.

In partnership with the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission Northern Shrimp Board, it aims to collect data for the stock assessment to determine if the moratorium that began in 2013 can be lifted.

The moratorium was put in place due to low population levels that scientist attribute to climate change.

Read the full article at Fox 22 

New England Fishermen Get Partial Win In Court Decision on Council Un-Constitutionality

January 3, 2024 — A federal court judge in Maine granted partial approval to a claim brought by New England Fishermen Stewardship Association (NEFSA) that certain authorities of regional management council members and the agency that implements their decisions into regulation, are unconstitutional. The authorities center on whether and how councils may override a decision made by the Secretary of Commerce in the process of putting council decisions into fisheries regulations.

Citing two other cases from last year — United Cook Inlet Drift Associaiton, et al v. National Marine Fisheries Service, et al and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo — Judge John Woodcock agreed with both and went one step further.

Woodcock’s decision ordered that the provisions referred to as unconstitutional be “…severed as unconstitutional from the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.”

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

Right whales returned in higher numbers to eastern Gulf of Maine this year

January 2, 2024 — For the first time in more than a decade, North Atlantic right whales returned in larger numbers this year to the eastern Gulf of Maine. Scientists believe their return may be due to colder deep water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine this past Spring.

Scientists collected the data from buoys placed in the Gulf of Maine, and observed that deep water temperatures were noticeably colder than in recent years.

Read the full article at Maine Public