Saving Seafood

Termination of Gulf of Maine leases casts further uncertainty over offshore wind

July 7, 2026 — The termination of two federal leases in the Gulf of Maine present the latest layer of uncertainty for offshore wind projects, once thought to be key to Maine’s energy secure, low-carbon future.

Last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a settlement agreement with Chicago-based Invenergy, which included the termination of offshore wind leases in Maine, California and New York.

“It’s a bad deal for Mainers, at a time when energy is getting more and more expensive, we are spending public dollars to not build energy resources and to not bring electricity prices down,” said Nick Janzen with Maine Conservation Voters.

As part of the agreement, the federal government will reimburse Invenergy up to $765 million, which the company will then reinvest in natural gas-fired power plants and geothermal power generation projects.

The administration of President Donald Trump has cited “national security concerns” about the development of offshore wind as the reason for terminating leases, and stopping work on other projects.

“Rather than waiting years for the projects to materialize, the Trump administration is prioritizing investments in existing infrastructure and functioning supply chains that can create jobs now and deliver economic benefits faster,” an Interior spokesperson said in a statement last week.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

Senate version of US Farm Bill also includes seafood provisions

June 26, 2026 — The U.S. Senate has released its version of the Farm Bill, and, like the version passed by the House, the massive legislation includes multiple provisions meant to support the seafood sector.

“Seafood is one of America’s great food resources, yet it has often been overlooked in programs designed to support domestic food production and regional economies,” Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association Executive Director Ben Martens said in a release. “The inclusion of these seafood priorities represents meaningful progress toward better integrating seafood into federal food policy.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

New England fishing leaders explore economic opportunities during National Green Crab Week

June 25, 2026 — During National Green Crab Week, leaders from across New England and Maine’s emerging green crab industry gathered in Portland on Wednesday to discuss how to both control the invasive, unregulated species and create new economic opportunities from it.

The Green Crabs Working Summit brought together harvesters, researchers, chefs, and industry advocates who share a common goal: finding productive uses for a species that has become a growing concern in Maine’s coastal waters.

Read the full article at News Center Maine

One lobsterman’s lawsuit going to the Supreme Court

June 24, 2026 — In 2023, the state of Maine mailed a package to Vinalhaven lobsterman Frank Thompson. “I got the little black thing in the mail, and the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) said, ‘hook it up and turn it on.’ I did. They wanted to track us, to collect data. Some guys mailed it back, but the DMR just sent it back to them. But I was curious, and so I sent it to a friend of mine at Google, and he said, ‘yeah, it’s tracking you 24/7 whether you’re fishing or not, and it has the potential to transmit video and audio.’”

According to legal filings, available here, “the primary purpose is to reduce the risk of North Atlantic right whales from getting entangled in fishing lines… (1) improve information available to fishery managers and stock assessment scientists; (2) support the development of offshore renewable energy in U.S. waters; and (3) improve the efficiency and efficacy of fishery management and offshore enforcement efforts in the EEZ.”

It was too much for Thompson and many other lobstermen, who contend that then DMR commissioner Pat Keliher told them that it had nothing to do with the whales or the wind, but never gave a definitive answer on what it was for, even when asked. They say it violates their 4th Amendment protection from unlawful search and seizure, and Thompson is now taking the case to the Supreme Court.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Trump administration to buy back another energy company’s offshore wind leases for 4 more projects

June 18,2026 — The Trump administration said Wednesday it’s buying back another energy company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four more wind projects, as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

The latest deal brings the total amount spent on these agreements to nearly $2.6 billion.

Chicago-based Invenergy has agreed to end its four offshore wind leases that were very early in development in exchange for reimbursements of lease fees totaling $765 million. The company had already canceled the largest of the four in November, Leading Light Wind off New Jersey’s coast. The others are off the coasts of Maine and California. It will invest that money in natural gas and geothermal ventures that can be built more quickly instead.

By buying back leases, the Republican administration is stopping offshore wind farms that President Donald Trump does not support, and redirecting the money to fossil fuel projects that he does. It adopted this strategy after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. Trump has frequently talked about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Trump Administration to Buy Back Four More Offshore Wind Leases

June 18, 2026 — Continuing its strategy of canceling offshore wind projects by buying back the leases in exchange for other energy investments, the Department of the Interior announced its third agreement. The administration has committed nearly $2.6 billion to canceling offshore wind leases even as the strategy is being challenged in court and by regulators.

Invenergy will voluntarily terminate four offshore wind leases it purchased in the past from the government and will redirect the investments toward other domestic energy sources, said the Department of the Interior. It valued the four leases at $765 million for one lease in the New York Bight for a New Jersey wind farm, two for floating offshore wind farms in Maine, and one off the coast of California.

The largest and most advanced of the projects was Leading Light Wind, which had submitted its offshore wind project bid to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) in August 2023. It called for up to 2.4 GW, which would have made it the largest in the United States. It would have been more than 40 miles off the coast near Atlantic City, New Jersey, and included a battery storage option that would provide 253 MW of advanced energy storage, but it had yet to submit a Construction and Operations Plan proposal to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

SCOTUS to consider lobsterman’s challenge to GPS tracking rule

June 10, 2026 — Vinalhaven lobsterman Frank Thompson’s case challenging the constitutionality of Maine Department of Marine Resources’ rule requiring 24/7 GPS tracking on federally licensed lobster boats was among the cases to be considered by the Supreme Court of the United States this week. However, SCOTUS will no longer decide whether to hear the case on June 11, as they have called for a response from the DMR. This information was shared in an email from Pacific Legal Foundation, the public-interest law firm representing Thompson, along with co-counsel from Holtzman Vogel.

In March, Thompson filed a 34-page petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to overturn the GPS tracking rule, arguing that it violates lobstermen’s Fourth Amendment rights protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. The DMR rule states that every licensed lobster boat must be equipped with a tracker, and the tracker must be fully operational even when boats are docked or not being used for commercial fishing purposes. Failure to comply can result in hefty fines and the loss of fishing licenses.

Read the full article at The Ellsworth American

7 states sue Trump administration over nearly $1 billion deal to halt offshore wind farm

June 3, 2026 — Seven states are suing the Trump administration over a nearly $1 billion deal to end French energy company TotalEnergies’ offshore wind development off the East Coast, accusing the deal of being “unlawful.”

In March, the U.S. Department of the Interior reached a $928 million deal with TotalEnergies to halt construction of the wind farms and redirect the investment into domestic fossil fuel initiatives. The “landmark agreement” was described by the Interior Department as a way to lower energy costs and strengthen the nation’s energy security.

Attorneys general in seven states in the Northeast, including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday, alleging the Trump administration illegally used nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for the deal.

The coalition also accuses the deal of violating the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which restricts the Interior Department’s ability to cancel offshore wind leases.

Read the full article at ABC News

High diesel prices may dampen summer lobster fishing season

June 1, 2026 — Higher diesel fuel prices are worrying lobster fishermen in Maine, just as the summer fishing season is beginning to ramp up.

“It’s going to be more expensive for them to fish if this continues,” said Marianne LaCroix, executive director of the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative.

National data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows the on-highway diesel fuel price on May 25 was $5.52 a gallon. That’s up more than $2 a gallon compared to the same time a year ago.

In New England, the data shows the price on May 25 was $5.80 a gallon, up almost $2 versus a year ago.

“Diesel fuel is one of the big expenses for fishing,” LaCroix said. “Higher fuel costs just makes it more expensive for them to fish.”

Right now, there are about 5,000 lobster fishermen operating off the coast of Maine, and the busy season starts in June.

Read the full article at Spectrum News