The local fishermen’s co-op in Spruce Head dropped its request for a court injunction after a neighboring seafood giant moved a boat that the co-op said was interfering with its ability to operate.
Attorney Patrick Mellor filed a notice with the state court in Knox County on Tuesday that it was withdrawing its request for injunctive relief after the vessel was removed from its previous location.
The lawsuit filed in April challenging the expansion of neighboring Maine Lobster and Processing LLC’s wharf system remains in effect. The two sides went through a court alternative dispute resolution process but no agreement was reached.
At stake is access to one of Maine’s most productive lobstering harbors — but also one of its smallest, with space exceedingly tight in its working waterfront on the south side of the island.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection approved the expansion of Maine Lobster and Processing LLC’s wharf system on Jan. 8. But the co-op filed an appeal to the Board of Environmental Protection on Feb. 5, warning the expansion would block access to its own wharf — an appeal Maine Lobster contends is without merit.
The processor is a subsidiary of Mazzetta Co. LLC of Highland Park, Illinois, which bills itself as one of the world’s largest importers and producers of shrimp, mussels, lobsters, crab and finfish, selling more than 100 million pounds of finished seafood products annually. The conglomerate purchased the longtime family-owned Atwood Lobster business in Spruce Head in 2011. In addition to Atwood Lobster, Mazzetta owns and operates Beach Point Processing on Prince Edward Island in Canada and cold storage distribution facilities in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
The co-op is a fishing cooperative that has operated continuously since 1972 at its Spruce Head location. It serves about 40 lobstermen.
Maine Lobster wants to extend its bait storage building deck area, which the co-op contends would further constrict the navigational corridor used by its affiliated vessels. The expansion would increase navigational conflicts and safety risks, the co-op warns.
Maine Lobster also proposes constructing a new 16-foot-by-28-foot floating dock system. The co-op says this dock system would impede the only navigational access to its wharf.
Other parties have also pointed out that Maine Lobster installed a floating dock system in 2021 without a permit.
David Cousens of South Thomaston, president of the co-op and former longtime president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, warned regulators earlier this year that the expansion would lead to dire consequences for the local co-op.
“If the application is approved as currently configured, it would make it impossible for us to operate. We would go out of business,” Cousens said in an affidavit filed with the Board of Environmental Protection.
Spruce Head is one of the state’s top fishing ports, landing more than $20 million worth of seafood in 2025. That made it the fifth-biggest lobster port in Maine last year, following Stonington, Vinalhaven, Portland and Friendship.
The co-op and its neighbor have also argued over the placement of a disused lobster smack, which the co-op alleges has been intentionally parked in a manner that limits access to their own wharf.
Maine Lobster and Processing’s attorney, Thomas Federle, responded to the co-op’s appeal by noting the company scaled back its proposed expansion in response to the cooperative’s concerns.
“This substantial compromise by Maine Lobster was a sacrifice of operational needs, surrendering needed skiff space and additional workspace for its fishermen,” the company’s lawyer stated to the Board of Environmental Protection in his March 20 response.
Funding for the wharf expansion is being aided by a state working waterfront resiliency grant and a business resiliency grant to rebuild its wharf and raise it after the January 2024 storms.
The lawyer said the appeal puts the grant in jeopardy by delaying the project.
The Atwood Lobster company originated in 1920 when William Atwood’s grandfather, a lobster fisherman from Nova Scotia, moved his family to Boston. William Atwood’s father soon started a wholesale lobster business in Boston. That business was destroyed by fire in 1950 and his father decided to move the family and business to Maine to be closer to the supply of lobsters. The business stayed in the family until the sale to the Mazzetta subsidiary in 2011.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.