Saving Seafood

Lobstermen push back on ASMFC overfishing claim

November 10, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) announced last week that while the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank (GOM/ GBK) lobster stock remains above its abundance threshold, overfishing is occurring, a finding that has sparked concern and disagreement from industry groups who say the assessment overstates fishing’s role in the stock’s recent decline.

The 2025 American Lobster Benchmark Stock Assessment was released on Oct. 20 and stated that the GOM and GBK stock has declined by 34 percent since its peak in 2018, though it is “not depleted” and continues to support a robust fishery. In contrast, the Southern New England stock remains “significantly depleted” but is not experiencing overfishing, with abundance at record lows across all life stages.

“The Benchmark Stock Assessment is a considerable advancement in our understanding U.S. American lobster resource. It was fully endorsed by an external panel of fishery scientists as the best scientific information available to manage the lobster resource,” stated Board Chair Renee Zobel from New Hampshire. “On behalf of the American Lobster Board, I commend the members of the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment Subcommittee for their outstanding work on the 2025 Benchmark Stock Assessment Report. This assessment reflects the commitment of the Committee and Peer Review Panel to providing the Board with the highest-caliber science to inform management decisions and improve our understanding of the complex and changing relationship between the environment and lobster resource.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

MAINE: Jared Golden: I won’t seek reelection. Here’s why.

November 5, 2025 — Congressman Jared Golden (D-Maine), a moderate Democrat whose district includes coastal Maine from Penobscot Bay north, has announced he will not seek re-election. Congressman Golden has been a vocal advocate for Maine’s fisheries, particularly the lobster industry, where he has focused on opposing new regulations, ensuring fair trade practices, and securing funding for the industry. He serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and has supported legislation for disaster relief, workforce development, and health and safety programs for fishermen. He has also expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts of offshore wind development on fishing grounds. Mr. Golden announced his decision in an opinion column in Bangor Daily News. The Democrat’s unexpected retirement opens up a House seat in a district that Trump carried.

Jared Golden of Lewiston represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

After much deliberation, I have decided not to seek reelection in 2026.

I am forever grateful for the honor of serving my constituents in Congress, and proud of what I’ve accomplished for Maine. But recently, it became clear that now is the right time to step away from elected office.

I have never loved politics. But I find purpose and meaning in service, and the Marine in me has been able to slog along through the many aspects of politics I dislike by focusing on the good work that Congress is capable of producing with patience and determination.

But after 11 years as a legislator, I have grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community — behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves. My team and I have strived to stay above the fray and, for that, we can hold our heads high with appreciation for each other and the way we have gone about our work.

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News

 

New England lobster populations fall amid overfishing

November 4, 2025 — Overfishing of American lobster is occurring in New England’s most productive fishing areas off the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts, contributing to a 34 percent population drop since the last assessment in 2020, regulators found in a new report.

The findings, released Thursday by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, will not result in an immediate change of lobster management, officials said. But they point to a broader concern around the viability of New England lobster, which are declining at an ever-faster rate across their traditional cold-water habitat.

Maine, which produces 93 percent of the nation’s lobster, saw a record-low harvest of 86 million pounds in 2024, according to state data, down 35 percent from 2016 when fishermen hauled in a record 132 million pounds of lobster. Massachusetts has seen comparable drops, while lobster harvests in southern New England have seen the steepest declines.

Read the full article at E&E News

New assessment shows Gulf of Maine lobster stock is declining and overfishing is occurring

November 3, 2025 — For the first time, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has issued an assessment that finds that overfishing is occurring in the lobster stock in Northern New England waters. And regulators are recommending a re-evaluation of management strategies for the lucrative resource.

Most of the lobsters Americans eat are caught in the Gulf of Maine, and Maine’s lobster fishery is one of the most valuable seafood industries in the country. But there are more signals that the fishery is changing, fast.

Tracy Pugh, a fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the chair of the Commission’s technical committee, presented the results of the new 2025 lobster stock assessment to the American Lobster Management Board this week in Delaware.

And she says according to their models, the abundance of lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and George’s Bank area has declined 34% since its peak in 2018, and is now approaching levels last seen around fifteen years ago.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Lobster populations off New England coast are declining, report shows

October 31, 2025 — Lobster populations off the coast of New England have dropped 34 percent since 2018, according to a new report from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The findings are raising fresh questions about the long-term outlook for Maine’s lobster industry.

Off the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, the commission said the current population is at 201 million lobsters, which is below the target of 229 million but still comfortably above the “depleted” threshold of 143 million. That means the stock is not considered depleted, but the decline is notable.

“The number of lobsters in the population has gone down since the last assessment,” said Caitlin Starks, senior coordinator for the commission’s Fishery Management Plan. “Overfishing is occurring, but just barely.”

Read the full article at News Center Maine

Lobster Population Falls off New England, Leading Regulators to Declare Overfishing

October 31, 2025 — A new report says America’s lobsters, which have been in decline since 2018, are now being overfished off New England.

The stock has declined by 34% since that year in its most important fishing grounds, the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said Thursday. The commission said it now considers overfishing of the species to be occurring, and that could bring new management measures that restrict fishermen from catching them in the future.

But the lobster population has shown “rapid declines in abundance in recent years,” the commission said in a statement.

The assessment said the decline and overfishing were taking place in fishing areas off Maine and Massachusetts where most lobster fishing takes place. The assessment also considered the southern New England lobster stock, which it said has been depleted for years and remains so.

Read the full article at U.S. News

Stock assessment for US lobster shows population shifts, minor overfishing

October 31, 2025 — A recent stock assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) indicates lobster stock on the East Coast of the U.S. is depleted to record low abundance in Southern New England (SNE), and overfishing of the stock is occurring in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank (GOM/GBK).

The lobster benchmark assessment found the stock in GOM/GBK – which accounts for the vast majority of lobster landings in the U.S. – has declined 34 percent since peak levels in 2018. According to the ASMFC, the GOM region in particular has accounted for an average of 82 percent of annual landings since 1982, while the GBK fishery accounts for 5 percent.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

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