By Chris Brehme, The Lobster Institute
The University of Maine’s Lobster Institute hosted the 20th U.S.-Canada Lobster Town Meeting in Bar Harbor on January 29 and 30. More than 200 people from nine states and four Canadian provinces convened at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Event Center for the largest Town Meeting on record.
This year’s meeting initially intended to focus on the minimum gauge increase in the U.S., including the science, ecosystem changes, and stock assessment processes that shaped Addendum XXVII, as well as its implications for trade with Canada. These topics remained a focus of the meeting, with four panels composed of U.S. and Canadian research scientists, harvesters, managers, processors, and marketing representatives. While the gauge change remained a large part of the conversations, news about pending U.S. tariffs with Canada and other nations emerged just days before the Town Meeting and became a focus of the concluding session on market conditions.
After a banquet dinner on Wednesday night, the meeting kicked off Thursday morning with a panel discussion on recent changes in oceanography in the Northwest Atlantic. Nick Record of Bigelow Laboratory and Tom Shyka of Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) shared their perspectives on long-term trends in ocean warming and the connection to plankton abundance, while Melanie Giffin of Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association (PEIFA) discussed the links to what harvesters are seeing on the water. Record described how interactions between the warm Gulf Stream and cold Labrador Current influence water temperatures in southwest Nova Scotia and the Gulf of Maine, while Shyka confirmed that recent buoy data shows colder, fresher water at depth. Despite these recent observations, the long-term warming trend is expected to continue.
The next panel focused on the lobster stock assessment process in the U.S. and Canada. The panel included Kathleen Reardon, Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), Tracy Pugh, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), and Natalie Asselin, Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), as well as Melanie Giffin. Reardon led things off with an overview of fisheries dependent and independent data, and how various data collection efforts such as sea sampling, ventless traps, and trawl surveys contribute to a complete picture of the lobster stock. Pugh followed with a dive into the U.S. stock assessment process, explaining more about the model used for evaluating the status of the Southern New England and Georges Bank /Gulf of Maine lobster stocks. Asselin contrasted the U.S. approach with the Canadian stock assessment, which is indicator-based, relying on a combination of fisheries dependent and independent data. Giffin spoke about ‘co-constructed’ science and management, contrasting that with ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ approaches, whose conclusions and data often remain isolated from one another. This new approach is being advanced by the Canadian Lobster Research Network, an industry-funded effort that will use research to answer relevant questions from harvesters. The presentations were followed by many questions and comments from the audience that emphasized the apparent disconnect between what harvesters observe and what management emphasizes.
Panel three centered on discussion about management differences between the U.S. and Canada. Building on the data and stock assessment processes discussed in the previous session, the presenters explained how their respective management agencies shape policy based on the stock assessment results. The panel included Verna Docherty, DFO, Tony Kerns, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), Patrick Keliher, DMR Commissioner, Dan McKiernan, DMF Commissioner, and Dan Fleck, Brazil Rock LFA 34/35 in southwest Nova Scotia.
Docherty began by describing the various harvest control rules Canada uses to protect lobster stocks, including limited seasons, minimum and maximum sizes, and trap vents. A three-tiered system to describe stock status (healthy, caution, and critical) helps managers decide when to implement control measures. Currently, stocks are in the green throughout the Canadian fishery. In contrast, Kerns explained how the U.S. federal system relies on a multi-state commission, the ASMFC, to make decisions regarding various stocks, with the most notable example being the recent minimum gauge increase for the U.S. lobster fishery.
Keliher followed with an explanation of his decision, in coordination with Maine’s governor, to not comply with the minimum gauge increase set to go into effect in July. He explained that the lobster advisory council and lobster zone councils were against the measure, and that non-compliance would not make the larger issue disappear. In fact, the decision may have put more pressure on the lobster fishery to agree upon equivalent conservation measures.
McKiernan followed, explaining that Massachusetts had agreed to comply with the gauge change, which included making minimum and maximum sizes in southern New England management areas consistent with other areas. He expressed frustration that Maine and New Hampshire had decided not to comply and the effect this might have on the legitimacy of the ASMFC management process. Despite these apprehensions, he stated that in subsequent discussions Massachusetts would follow Maine’s lead. A lively discussion followed about the gauge change and the data indices that triggered it. MLA President Kristin Porter urged management to get industry members involved as early and often as possible in future decision-making, and to make every effort to include people who aren’t typically engaged.
The afternoon concluded with sector updates from fishermen, association leaders, and lobster dealers. Several major concerns were noted, including tariffs, finding and keeping crew, offshore wind impacts, gauge changes, the cost and availability of bait, the growing Jonah crab population, and potential regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales. The day’s events ended with a banquet dinner where Jack Merrill was presented with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association ‘Golden V-Notch’ Award to recognize his 40 years of leadership in sustaining the lobster resource.
The second day of Town Meeting commenced with a panel focused on U.S.-Canada trade issues. Panelists included Owen Kenney of Champlain Seafood/Downeast, Hugh Reynolds of Greenhead Lobster, Kris Vascotto of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, Spiros Tourkakis of East Coast Seafood, Curt Brown of Ready Seafood, Nat Richard of the Lobster Processors Association, and Geoff Irvine of the Lobster Council of Canada. There was strong agreement that tariffs would be detrimental to the North American lobster industry as a whole. Canadian participants urged their U.S. counterparts to be respectful of the differences between the countries while emphasizing the shared fate of the industry when it comes to U.S. management decisions, whether they are influenced by politics (e.g. tariffs) or science and management (e.g. gauge changes).
While attendees agree that the challenges facing the lobster industry can be contentious and daunting, the 20th U.S.-Canada Town Meeting provided a welcome venue to see old friends, share ideas, and renew the industry’s commitment to sustaining the North American lobster resource for generations to come.
We would like to extend a special thanks to former Lobster Institute interns Ryan Bergman and Sophia Ruh for supporting the Q & A, and University of Maine Stoll Lab graduate students Tracy MacKeracher, Willow Grinnell, Kate Behrens, Amir Colbert Stone, Chandler Sendek, and Jessica Bonilla for capturing notes. We also extend thanks to our moderator, Carla Guenther, senior scientist, Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, and our many sponsors, panelists, and all of our attendees.
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