December marks the close of the Maine Lobstermen's Association's (MLA) 70th anniversary year. To remain in existence for 70 years is a truly remarkable achievement. To be a successful advocate for fishermen is even more remarkable. The MLA’s cumulative impact on the lobster fishery over seven decades is nearly impossible to measure.
Since 1954, Maine’s lobster fishery has transformed itself from a 21 million pound fishery worth just over $8 million (boat price, 37 cents per pound) to a 94 million pound fishery worth nearly $465 million (boat price, $4.95 per pound). Though the number of licensed Maine lobstermen is surprisingly similar — 5,794 in 1954 compared to 5,372 in 2023 — the importance of the fishery to Maine’s coastal communities is significantly different.
In 1954, lobster comprised 8% of Maine’s commercial landings and accounted for 48% of value. In 2023, lobster accounted for 46% of Maine’s catch and a whopping 76% of value. Gone are the days when the majority of Maine’s seafood was landed at a large harbor like Portland. Instead, Maine’s highest value ports today are the small harbors scattered along the coast, such as Stonington, Vinalhaven, Beals, Friend-ship, Milbridge, and Har-rington. And it is all fueled by lobster.
It might not have ended up this way. Maine’s lobster fishery would not be the backbone of the coastal economy if not for the stewardship practices of Maine lobstermen, many of which were put forward by the MLA. What would the industry be like today had lobstermen not banded together in 1954 to establish the Maine Lobstermen’s Association?
Because the MLA has remained true to its members’ concerns over the years, our accomplishments are second to none among fishing groups in Maine, in New England and nationally. What many don’t realize — or often forget — is that because of the MLA’s steady presence, all the efforts to chip away at the fishery’s conservation practices have failed.
Lobstermen should not overlook that it was the MLA that fought long and hard for the core conservation measures we now take for granted: we are an owner-operated fishery; there is no dragging for lobster in Maine; we protect small lobsters so that they reproduce before they are commercially harvested; we V-notch egg-bearing females to give our proven breeders a chance to do it all again; we protect oversize lobsters; and we fish with traps so that all the lobsters we can’t land go back alive.
As amazing as our work was in the early days, the MLA has evolved to take on new and more complex issues. Take offshore wind. When the MLA was pressured to talk about co-existing with wind farms because they were coming anyway, we said “No!” When we were told we shouldn’t oppose wind farms because they bring good jobs, we said “No!” and fought to keep the $1 billion of jobs and revenue currently produced annually by the fishery.
Think about right whales. When lobsterman after lobsterman told the MLA that they do not see right whales where they fish and that the government is exaggerating the lobster fishery’s role in the right whale decline, the MLA listened. We did the tedious work of pouring through the data, counting the number of cases where Maine lobster gear harmed right whales. We did the hard work necessary to counter the National Marine Fisheries Service’s plan that would have gutted the Maine lobster fishery. When the agency brushed us aside, we consulted our membership and we sued. A few years and many dollars later, we won an historic legal victory against the federal government! Because of that win, many of you are still fishing today.
Of course, you know all this. These incredible accomplishments have become very ordinary to Maine lobstermen — but in fact it is actually extraordinary that a group of lobstermen who banded together could accomplish so many things that most would have thought impossible.
The MLA’s first president, Leslie Dyer of Vinalhaven, wrote in his welcome message to MLA’s first annual convention in Rockland in 1955, “We are an association of Independent Maine Lobstermen, controlled and managed by lobstermen who carry out the wishes of our members, without outside influence interfering in any way with the individual lobsterman’s way of fishing.”
That is as true today as it was then. It is exactly what makes the MLA so special. The MLA is still a membership organization and is still governed by lobstermen. The MLA has never been beholden to outside influences — not to a labor union, not to wealthy summer people, not to green organizations, and not to the government. The vast majority of our funding comes from the lobster industry through memberships, donations, our vessel insurance program, and merchandise sales. We have certainly had our share of lean times over the years, but this mix of support has allowed the MLA to avoid the trap of taking funding for things that are not important to lobstermen.
So ask yourself: If the MLA disappeared tomorrow, how worried would you be about your future?
For those of you who steadfastly support MLA, thank you. None of these amazing accomplishments would have been possible without you. If you are not an MLA member, I hope you will take this moment, today, to celebrate the MLA’s 70 years of service to the fishery by becoming a member.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And as always, please stay safe on the water.
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