Gerry Cushman has seen New England’s iconic lobster industry survive numerous threats in his three decades on the water, but the latest challenge — which might sound tiny — could be the biggest one yet.
Lobster fishing is a game of inches, and the number of inches is about to change. Fishing regulators are instituting a new rule that lobster fishermen must abide by stricter minimum sizes for crustaceans they harvest.
The change might be only 1/16th of an inch or 1.6 millimeters, but it will make a huge difference for fishermen when the fishery is already facing major threats from climate change and new rules designed to protect whales, numerous lobster fishers told The Associated Press.
Interstate fishery regulators, however, say the change is necessary to preserve the future of the lobster population off New England as the species shifts farther north with warming waters.
“The gauge increase and the vent increase is too much of a knee-jerk reaction,” said Marblehead resident Chris Chadwick of F/V Native Son II who fishes out of Gloucester due to the consolidation of the groundfishery in the region.
“Just because farmers had a flood and they had a bad year, doesn’t predict all future outcomes,” the captain said of a drop in catch in recent years. “So a knee jerk reaction to this; it’s been in place for 30 years. We’ve seen ups. We’ve seen downs. We’ve seen hurricanes.
“We’ve seen not as much rain. We’ve seen too much rain. We’ve seen all sorts … It runs the gamut so what’s in place I think is good, meaning leaving the gauge alone and leaving the vent alone.”
The gauge is the tool used to measure lobster’s carapace. The vent size refers to is the size of the escape vent required in lobster traps appropriate to minimize the catch of sub-legal lobsters.
Chadwick objects to both measurement increases.
“You are going to be able to work your rear-end off, bait them, set them, chase them, but you are not going to be able to retain them through the vent increase and the gauge increase,” he said.
“It’s better to keep it the same. All your metrics will be better. You can maybe estimate the future or reduce, but as a businessman, if you chase something you can’t retain, you are going to go out of business.”
China, Canada trade
In addition to causing a dispute between fishermen and regulators, the change has led to confusion about the ramifications for international trade of one of the world’s most popular seafoods.
“We don’t need any more, really, on our plate. It’s just a lot going on, one fight after another,” Cushman, 55, a boat captain who fishes out of Port Clyde, Maine, said. “We don’t need anything in the marketplace to lower the price of lobsters.”
Fishermen are pushing back at the new rules slated to go into effect next summer, because they fear even such a small change could dramatically alter their ability to fish. They also say it would put them at a competitive disadvantage with Canada, which harvests the same lobster species and has more relaxed rules. Some worry the size change could glut the market with lobsters in future years.
“The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association DID NOT support Addendum 27 as it was presented as being a one-size-fits-all management plan,” Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association Executive Director Beth Casoni said in an email to the Times.
“The Lobster Management Areas 1, 3 and, Outer Cape Cod will all be greatly impacted by these biological measures.”
Warming gulf, declining stock
Recent surveys have shown a decline in baby lobsters off Maine, and regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission say that could foreshadow a decline in catch.
“We’re seeing a decline in recruits that will probably result in a decline in adults later on,” said Caitlin Starks, a senior fishery management plan coordinator with the commission.
America’s lobster catch is already dipping — the haul in Maine, which harvests most U.S. lobster, fell from a high of 132.6 million pounds in 2016 to 93.7 million last year.
Massachusetts is the second-largest lander of lobster in the U.S. behind Maine and Gloucester is the top Massachusetts port for landings. Bay State lobster fishers landed 15.8 million pounds of lobster last year, compared to 17.7 million pounds in 2016, according to a March 4 report in the Gloucester Times.
The minimum size change applies to the Gulf of Maine, a piece of ocean off New England that’s one of the most important lobster fishing grounds in the world. Under commission rules, the legal harvesting size for lobsters would change there if the young lobster stock in the gulf dropped by 35%.
Officials said last year the stock declined by 39% when comparing 2020-22 to 2016-18. That surprised both regulators and fishermen, and led many fishermen to question the accuracy of the commission’s data.
Nonetheless, regulators say the minimum size on the gauges fishermen use to measure lobsters will increase to 3 5/16 inches (8.4 centimeters) on July 1, 2025, and grow another 1/16th of an inch two years later.
Some conservationists support the changes, which they believe will protect lobsters from overfishing. That’s especially important “in the face of unprecedented climate change in the Gulf of Maine,” said Erica Fuller, an attorney in the ocean program at Conservation Law Foundation.
Scientists say the gulf is warming faster than most of the world’s oceans.
“Analysis shows that the proposed increase in gauge size will contribute to the long-term health and resiliency of the lobster stock by increasing its spawning stock biomass,” Fuller said.
Industry consolidation?
The changes do not apply in Canada, which has an even larger lobster fishing industry than the U.S. Some fishing grounds there already allow smaller lobsters to be caught than U.S. rules allow.
Canadian authorities and trade groups are closely watching regulatory actions in the U.S.
This month, the Atlantic States commission approved new rules to prevent the U.S. from importing sub-legal lobsters from Canada. The Canadian government is “committed to working with the Canadian fishing industry to help ensure continued market access,” Fisheries and Oceans Canada spokesman Barre Campbell said.
Chadwick was concerned the new rules would lead to the same consolidation of the lobster fishery as has happened to the groundfish fishery in Gloucester due to tight restrictions.
“The government thinks it’s better that we import haddock from Norway and Iceland and have them do the dirty work rather than employ Americans,” he said. “And, what’s going to happen is Canada is going to do the dirty work.
“We are going to employ them and our fishermen are going to go out of business because we are going to have Canada do the lobstering for us.”
Inability to sell lobsters to the U.S. could result in Canadians relying more on other foreign markets, said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada. China is a major buyer from both countries.
“If we can’t sell those percentages of that size lobsters to the U.S. anymore, we have to find places to sell it,” Irvine said. “What does that mean for prices, what does that mean for harvesters?”
Measure delayed to 2025
The changes will likely have a major effect on the lobster industry, but might not trickle down to U.S. consumers, said John Sackton, a longtime seafood industry analyst. Prices this summer have been down compared to recent years, according to trade data. Whether that continues depends in part on how large the catch is for the rest of the year, he said.
Some scientists who study the fishery have supported the minimum size change. Richard Wahle, a retired University of Maine marine sciences professor who has studied lobsters for decades, called it a “prudent” measure to protect the fishery’s future.
But the lobster industry sees a different story, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the oldest and largest fishing industry association on the East Coast. The association believes the action isn’t needed at this time.
Casoni said the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association “strongly believes that the overall impact of the 650 commercial lobstermen fishing in LMA 1, and OCC in Massachusetts is marginal on the resource and more data sets are needed to truly understand where the negative impacts are on the resource are coming from.
“The MLA,” she said, “is cautiously encouraged as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Lobster Board voted on and passed the creation of (an addendum) to delay the implementation of the biological measures under Addendum 27 until July 1, 2025.”
The majority of material in the report came from Patrick Whittle of The Associated Press. Staff writer Ethan Forman contributed to this report.