Saving Seafood

Maine lobster industry lawsuit against Monterey Bay Aquarium caught in wider First Amendment debate

August 3, 2026 — A lawsuit launched by the Maine lobster industry against the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation appeared before the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals on 27 July, and judges were reportedly concerned about its impact to First Amendment protections.

A coalition of Maine lobstermen including Bean Maine Lobster Inc., the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Atwood Lobster LLC, and Bug Catcher Inc. sued the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation (MBAF) over its red listing of Maine-caught lobster. The listing was part of a complicated back-and-forth over the Maine lobster industry’s alleged impact on the North Atlantic right whale, a critically endangered species.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Scientists have begun to re-deploy ocean monitoring equipment yanked from Pacific Northwest waters by the Trump administration in September.

August 3, 2026 — Every lobsterman expects to lose gear.

Strong tides, boat traffic, and tangled lines make losing lobster traps an unavoidable part of fishing Maine’s rugged coastline. But when those traps settle on the seafloor, they can impact marine life for years, creating problems for both the environment and the state’s most valuable fishery.

That’s why Buzz Scott has made it his mission to bring them back.

Scott has spent nearly two decades as a commercial fisherman off the Maine coast. While he still operates a lobster boat, much of his time is now dedicated to recovering abandoned traps as executive director of the nonprofit OceansWide.

Read the full article at News Center Maine

EPA promotes flexibility for Tier IV implementation

July 31, 2026 — The flex at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) these days is flexibility, and the agency wants fishermen to know that they have options when it comes to meeting Tier IV requirements. When fishermen decide to build a new boat and need more power than the 803 horsepower limit on EPA Tier III engines, they can apply for a waiver that will allow them to install a higher horsepower Tier III engine.

“It’s on a case-by-case basis,” says EPA Region 1 administrator Mark Sanborn. “We work with the boat builder to see if the engine meets the waiver requirements.”

According to Sanborn, the rule change allowing Tier IV requirement waiver went into effect in 2020. “In June, the folks at Wesmac [Wesmac Custom Boats in Surry, Maine] contacted us about installing an exempt 1000-hp engine in a boat that they were building for a fisherman in Chatham, Massachusetts,” Sanborn explains that the EPA Implementation, Analysis and Compliance Division of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality looked at things like the vessel’s operating profile, the depth of its home harbor, the size of its holding tanks and the areas where the owner would be fishing, and made the determination that he was eligible for a waiver.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA Report Finds Gulf of Maine Warming Slowed for Now, but Ecosystem Remains Unstable

July 28, 2026 — Maine’s fishing ports are doing well for now, but climate change is destabilizing the Gulf of Maine, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest “State of the Ecosystem” report for New England waters. Federal scientists presented the report to the New England Fishery Management Council in April, and published it online last week.

They found that some Maine fishing ports are growing busier, likely driven by the high price of lobster. Stonington, Harpswell and Friendship all see more activity now than they did roughly 20 years ago.

And 2025, like 2024, offered slightly cooler water temperatures after more than a decade of rapid and record-breaking warming in the Gulf of Maine. But the scientists predict that temperatures will warm again this fall, and will continue to rise long-term as the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

To weather these ongoing changes, fishermen and their communities need to diversify their businesses, experts say.

“Things don’t look particularly stable either in terms of the fishery or the ecosystem,” said Joseph Caracappa, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center who edited the report. “We’re seeing big changes that are sweeping across the ecology of the system and fisheries. Even socially, culturally — how communities are structured, where people are fishing, who’s actually doing the fishing.”

This annual report includes contributions from more than 100 scientists across the Northeast. NOAA has had to make do with fewer resources as the federal government’s priorities have changed under the second Trump administration, but otherwise the report has been prepared and published as usual, Caracappa said. And in fact, this latest report debuted a new section dedicated to forecasting ocean conditions in the year ahead.

Read the full article at U.S. News

MAINE: Maine lobstermen push to expand restricted fishing zone

July 28, 2026 — Small-scale lobstermen fishing out of Jonesport, Beals and Jonesboro are backing a proposal to expand a protected fishing zone in Englishman Bay, aiming to keep buoyed gear clear of long commercial trawls.

The Lobster Zone A Council voted unanimously last week to advance the plan, which would push the boundary of a restricted area 3 miles farther out to federal waters on its western edge, while leaving the eastern border unchanged, The Maine Monitor reported. Under current rules established in a 2011 agreement, the zone limits fishermen to buoyed lines carrying up to four traps; the new proposal would allow up to five traps per line inside the expanded area.

The change would also bar vessels running heavier gear — trawls of 10 to 20 traps anchored with large balloons — from fishing the expanded western zone.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

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

MAINE: Boothbay Harbor honors fishermen lost at sea

July 24, 2026 — From Portland to Pleasant Point, 10 communities came together July 21 to honor the lives of commercial fishermen lost at sea in Maine’s first statewide celebration. Boothbay Harbor held a ceremony at the Fishermen’s Memorial with speakers including Gov. Janet Mills, and White and Green Hope Founder and Downeast native Liz Michaud.

Signed into law by Mills in March, Maine Commercial Fishing Remembrance Day was spurred on by Michaud following the deaths of four Downeast fishermen in 2025, and the loss of her 18-year-old nephew Tyler exactly three years ago. Tyler had recently graduated from high school and planned to attend Maine Maritime Academy.

“It wasn’t until I lost my nephew … that it really hit me hard that there isn’t the acknowledgment or appreciation of the danger (of commercial fishing) … Tragedy strikes people in different ways, and that’s the way it struck my heart to take some action,” said Michaud in a pre-event interview.

In addition to honoring lost fishermen, her organization works to improve survival through education, safety awareness, community collaboration and the advancement of lifesaving practices and technologies.

Read the full article at Boothbay Register

NOAA report finds Gulf of Maine warming slowed for now, but ecosystem remains unstable

July 24, 2026 — Although the climate is changing, scientists say fishermen can find a path forward.

Maine’s fishing ports are doing well for now, but climate change is destabilizing the Gulf of Maine, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest “State of the Ecosystem” report for New England waters. Federal scientists presented the report to the New England Fishery Management Council in April, and published it online last week.

They found that some Maine fishing ports are growing busier, likely driven by the high price of lobster. Stonington, Harpswell and Friendship all see more activity now than they did roughly 20 years ago.

And 2025, like 2024, offered slightly cooler water temperatures after more than a decade of rapid and record-breaking warming in the Gulf of Maine. But the scientists predict that  temperatures will warm again this fall, and will continue to rise long-term as the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

To weather these ongoing changes, fishermen and their communities need to diversify their businesses, experts say.

“Things don’t look particularly stable either in terms of the fishery or the ecosystem,” said Joseph Caracappa, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center who edited the report. “We’re seeing big changes that are sweeping across the ecology of the system and fisheries. Even socially, culturally — how communities are structured, where people are fishing, who’s actually doing the fishing.”

This annual report includes contributions from more than 100 scientists across the Northeast. NOAA has had to make do with fewer resources as the federal government’s priorities have changed under the second Trump administration, but otherwise the report has been prepared and published as usual, Caracappa said. And in fact, this latest report debuted a new section dedicated to forecasting ocean conditions in the year ahead.

Read the full article at The Maine Monitor

August fundraiser to support New England fishing communities

July 22, 2026 — The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) will bring commercial fishermen, industry supporters, and coastal communities together next month for its fourth annual “Save Our Fisheries” Fundraiser at Cook’s Lobster & Ale House on Bailey Island, Maine.

The family-friendly event is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Organizers say proceeds will support NEFSA’s efforts to preserve New England’s commercial fishing heritage and protect working waterfronts as the industry continues to navigate regulatory and economic challenges.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces a Negative 90-day Finding on A Petition Request to Revise the Critical Habitat Designation for the North Atlantic Right Whale

July 21, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries received a petition from Save Long Beach Island, Inc. to revise the critical habitat designation for North Atlantic right whales under the Endangered Species Act. The petition requests a revision to the current critical habitat designation to include a migratory habitat in waters between Maine and Georgia.

NOAA Fisheries reviewed the petition, references provided by the petition, and information readily available in our files, and found that the petition does not present substantial scientific information indicating a revision to North Atlantic right whale critical habitat may be warranted. Therefore, a negative 90-day finding was made.

Read the notice as filed in the Federal Register today.

Questions?

Industry: Jean Higgins, Protected Resources, 978-281-9345

Media: Contact GARFO Public Affairs