Saving Seafood

MAINE: US Senator Susan Collins says steel tariffs are hurting Maine lobstermen

October 23, 2025 — U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) claims Maine’s lobster industry has been hit hard by U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imported steel and is asking his administration to insulate the sector from those costs.

“Lobstering has become a more expensive profession in recent years as lobstermen’s earnings per pound in 2024 decreased to some of the lowest levels in the past 75 years, and I continue to hear from lobstermen about the ways that tariffs have exacerbated this problem,” Collins wrote in an 20 October letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Court of Appeals considering Monterey Bay Aquarium effort to appeal Maine lobster rating lawsuit

October 9, 2025 — The U.S. Court of Appeals has agreed to hear an appeal by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation (MBAF) regarding a defamation lawsuit launched against it by the Maine lobster industry.

Several members of the Maine lobster industry – including Bean Maine Lobster Inc., the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Atwood Lobster LLC, and Bug Catcher Inc., owned by Gerry Cushman, a sixth-generation fisherman from Port Clyde, Maine, U.S.A. – along with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) sued the MBAF over the foundation’s “red” listing of lobster.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: New Marine Resources survey sheds light on how Maine lobstermen feel about the industry

October 9, 2025 — This summer, Maine’s Department of Marine Resources surveyed commercial lobstermen on how they feel about and perceive their industry, for the first time since 2008. Results indicate that most lobstermen are concerned more about economics and whale regulations, than the lobster fishery itself.

But as the department shares its findings at Lobster Zone Council meetings up and down the coast, the agency says it is hearing a lot of thoughts and feelings that didn’t show up on paper.

Read the full article at Maine Public

MAINE: Japanese expertise considered key to building Maine’s farmed scallop industry

October 7, 2025 — Following on previous exchanges, a group of eight stakeholders in Maine’s farm-raised scallop industry are planning to visit similar interests in Japan.

“Technology transfer is one of the fastest ways to build, support and ramp up an industry,” said Hugh Cowperthwaite, senior program director of fisheries and aquaculture for Coastal Enterprises Inc. in Brunswick. “By spending time in Japan, our hope is to gain first-hand experience meeting growers, harvesters, processors, retailers, restaurateurs and scientists to learn how sea scallops are grown, harvested, processed, marketed and made into various products to continue our work in Maine diversifying Maine’s coastal economy.”

The group will visit the northern prefectures of Aomori and Hokkaido, both of which have a climate and seasonality like Maine and are rooted in natural resource-based economies.

The trip, made possible by a grant from the Builders Initiative to CEI, is scheduled for Oct. 13-17.

‘Promising results’

The trip was organized by Cowperthwaite; Keiichiro Hamano, CEO of Japan Fishing Machine LLC; and Yoshinobu Kosaka, an expert on the physiology, ecology and aquaculture of scallops who lives in Aomori Prefecture and works as an advisor for many companies. Hamano and Kosaka helped the group establish connections in Japan.

Dana Morse, senior extension program manager for Maine Sea Grant and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, provided additional support, drawing on his role in previous exchanges, which began with his 1999 visit to Aomori to study the scallop industry.

Read the full article at Mainebiz

Maine delegation to visit Japan to study farm-raised sea scallop industry

October 6, 2025 — A delegation of eight professionals from Maine will visit Aomori and Hokkaido, Japan to study the Japanese farm-raised sea scallop industry. From October 13 through 17, 2025 the group will visit the northern prefectures of Aomori and Hokkaido, both of which have a climate and seasonality like Maine and are rooted in natural resource-based economies.

The trip was co-organized by Hugh Cowperthwaite, senior program director of fisheries and aquaculture for Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI); Keiichiro Hamano, CEO of Japan Fishing Machine, LLC; and Dr. Yoshinobu Kosaka, an expert on the physiology, ecology, and aquaculture of scallops. Dana Morse, Senior Extension Program Manager for Maine Sea Grant and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, provided additional support, drawing on his instrumental role in previous exchanges, which began with his 1999 visit to Aomori to study the scallop industry. Cowperthwaite and Morse have been working on collaborative research and technology transfer initiatives together since 2002. Their work began initially with sea scallop spat collection, but their work has expanded to include farmed scallops, kelp and most recently, the two are collaborating on efforts to promote the growth of farmed green sea urchins in Maine.

“Technology transfer is one of the fastest ways to build, support and ramp up an industry,” said Cowperthwaite. “By spending time in Japan, our hope is to gain first-hand experience meeting growers, harvesters, processors, retailers, restaurateurs, and scientists to learn how sea scallops are grown, harvested, processed, marketed and made into various products to continue our work in Maine diversifying Maine’s coastal economy.”

“We have learned so much over the years about scallop farming from our Japanese colleagues, so much that we now have a farmed industry in Maine and are seeing very promising results,” said Morse.

Read the full article at Penobscot Bay Pilot

MAINE: Survey finds Maine lobster fishers remain wary of whale conservation measures, but optimistic for industry

October 6, 2025 — A recently released survey of Maine lobster harvesters and processers found the industry remains worried that right whale conservation measures will impact their business, although roughly half of respondents expressed optimism for the fishery’s future.

The Maine Department of Marine Resource (DMR) said 1,366 people responded to its survey, which it released in September. Nearly all of the respondents were harvesters, although 66 dealers also participated. According to DMR, roughly 29 percent of the people involved in the state lobster industry took part in the survey.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: What to do about Maine’s green crab problem? Some see opportunity.

October 6, 2025 — In Milbridge, a former farmer is grinding invasive green crabs into fertilizer. In South Portland, a Cambodian food incubator is incorporating them into seafood dishes.

The first time Sam Cheeney saw a green crab was in the early 2000s, as part of an ecology class at the University of Maine at Machias.

He and his classmates ventured out across the mud flats and rocky shoreline in search of the invasive species, one that research suggests has been present on Maine’s coast since the mid-1800s, when it was carried to North America in the ballast waters of a European ship. Today, green crabs prey on soft-shell clams and mussels and have been found to harm salt marshes.

“We would find pockets of just hundreds of them,” Cheeney said. The experience made an impression. In 2023, after stints as a farmer and carpenter, and more than two decades after his first glimpse of the green crab, Cheeney founded Green Kraken, a small business based in Milbridge that makes fertilizer from crushed green crabs. The nutrients in the green crab act as a stimulant for vegetables and other crops.

Read the full article at The Maine Monitor

Sea Grant strengthens America’s working waterfronts

October 3, 2025 — The U.S. maritime economy is growing faster than the economy as a whole, supporting over 2.6 million jobs and contributing $511 billion to the nation’s GDP.

From lobster docks in Maine to oyster farms in Florida, kelp farms and commercial fisheries on the West Coast to maritime training in Alaska, charter fishing in the Gulf, and inland shipping in the Great Lakes, America’s coastal and freshwater industries are fueling economic growth, feeding families, and sustaining communities.

At the heart of that growth is Sea Grant, a trusted federal program linking science, communities, and industry across every coastal and Great Lakes state. According to the most recent federal data, the marine economy grew by 5.9 percent in GDP, outpacing national GDP growth, and Sea Grant plays a critical role in sustaining and accelerating that momentum.

Modeled after the Land Grant college system that helped transform American agriculture, the Sea Grant college program has spent more than 50 years doing the same for the nation’s marine and freshwater economies, combining applied research, hands-on education, and direct investments in communities and businesses to promote sustainable growth.

That model works. It works for the charter boat captain who needs up-to-date science on fish stocks, reef health, and ocean conditions. It works for the shellfish farmer navigating complex permitting processes, building a skilled workforce, and developing business plans to stay competitive. It works for the lobsterman who relies on data about juvenile lobsters entering the fishery to make informed decisions about their gear, boat, and future, because without that data, they’d be navigating blind. It works for the seafood processor hiring the next generation of workers, and for the harbor manager planning infrastructure upgrades to withstand future storms. It works for the grocery shopper a thousand miles from the coast looking for fresh, healthy seafood, and for the inland communities whose economies depend on waterborne trade and shipping. It works for families, for small businesses, for regional economies, and ultimately, for the nation.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEFMC tables ropeless gear proposal following pushback

October 2, 2025 — The New England Fishery Management Council has tabled an alternative gear marking proposal that could enable more Maine lobster fishers to use ropeless gear in closed areas following public opposition from commercial fishing groups and a Maine legislator.

“A packed house of fishermen – with NEFSA members making up the strong majority – made their concerns loud and clear both in person and through the flood of public comments leading up to the vote. This is another major win for American commercial fisheries,” New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) said in a social media post.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Management council votes to postpone rope-less lobster gear rule in Maine

October 2, 2025 — At its meeting on September 25 in Gloucester, Mass., the New England Fishery Management Council voted to postpone its decision allowing lobstermen fishing in federal waters to use alternative, rope-less gear.

The decision was welcome news to the lobster industry and to congressman Jared Golden, who urged NEFMC to abandon the proposal in a letter dated September 23.

“Maine’s lobstermen are facing tremendous uncertainty, with various agencies operating in parallel considering new regulations that would fundamentally alter what it looks like to haul traps off the coast of Maine,” Golden said. “Congress enacted a moratorium on requiring this kind of gear, and that moratorium is still in effect while more data is gathered and studied. This framework, if adopted, would muddy the waters about what is required of Maine’s harvesters, and there’s no need for it.”

The moratorium Golden referred to was adopted in the U.S. congressional budget for 2023 with the unanimous support of Maine’s senators and representatives. The moratorium at the federal level paused the development of new lobster gear requirements until 2028.

Read the full article at Penobscot Bay Press