The Maine Lobstermen’ s Association said the federal government has made a major shift in its federal whale policy that had threatened the crucial state industry.
“The Maine Lobstermen’s Association welcomes a major shift in federal whale policy following its landmark court victory against the National Marine Fisheries Service,” the trade industry group stated in a Nov. 6 news release.
On Nov. 5, NMFS announced that new scientific analyses indicate U.S. fisheries may be meeting the federal standard for protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales.
“(This was) a dramatic change from the government’s previous assessments that misapplied the science and the law, threatened the future of Maine’s lobster industry, and were ultimately ruled unlawful,” the news release stated.
“The announcement marks a significant turning point after years of uncertainty for Maine’s lobster industry caused by the threat of increasingly severe federal regulations that were not justified by available scientific observations or the law. It follows MLA’s successful federal court challenge, which overturned NMFS’s misinterpretation of the law and unjustified reliance on worst-case assumptions in assessing the lobster fishery’s impact on right whales,” the release stated.
“This is what we fought for. MLA took the federal government to court and won because its claims about our fishery weren’t supported by the science or the law,” said Patrice McCarron, MLA Executive Director. “That court victory forced NMFS to change course. Now the government’s own analysis is beginning to confirm what Maine lobstermen have been saying for years.”
In June 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with the Association, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Maine Lobstering Union, and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association that NMFS distorted the science driving the regulation, relying improperly on assumptions and worst-case scenarios when determining the risk posed by industry to right whales.
That Appeals Court ruling had overturned an earlier District Court ruling in favor of the federal government. The Association had filed its legal challenge in 2022.
The court’s decision allowed the current regulation to remain in effect while NMFS developed a new rule. Congress had earlier voted to delay further rulemaking until 2028.
Maine lobster harvesters landed 78.8 million pounds in 2025, down from the more than 100 million pounds regularly caught during the 2010s boom. But the value of the fishery remained high at $461.4 million on the strength of a $5.85 per pound boat price, the third highest price on record, driven by strong consumer demand.
In Knox County, which follows only Hancock County in Maine lobster landings, harvesters landed 20.6 million pounds last year, with a value of $124.4 million. Several Knox towns were again among Maine’s biggest lobster ports, with Stonington leading the state, followed by Vinalhaven, Portland, Friendship and Spruce Head.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.