NMFS to Permanently close Massachusetts “Wedge Area” The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes to permanently expand the seasonally closed Massachusetts Restricted Area (MRA) to include the so-called Massachusetts Restricted Area Wedge through an amendment … Continue reading
Guest Column: Recap of the 2023 Summer
First published in Landings, September 2023 We’ve had a summer with more than our fair share of rain and fog, but despite the weather it started on a good note, with the Washington, D.C. Appellate … Continue reading
Steaming Ahead | September 2023
First published in Landings, September 2023 The summer fog lifted (for most of us) and Maine’s coast is once again showing off its beauty. It’s hard not to notice! It’s why you call the coast … Continue reading
Maine Lobstermen, Alaska Trollers Share Similar Threats
The Alaskan salmon troller fishery may seem entirely unconnected to the Maine lobster fishery but in fact the two fisheries have faced similar mortal threats from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In 2020, an … Continue reading
Steaming Ahead | August 2023
First published in Landings, August 2023 Everyone in the lobster industry should remember the date of June 16 with pride. It is the day that the lobster industry earned a historic victory when a panel … Continue reading
MLA Earns Historic Win for Maine’s Lobster Industry: How Did We Get Here?
Click here for details on this historic win! Spring 2017 – National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) publishes new model in May which determines that the right whale population has been in decline since 2010; declares … Continue reading
MLA Earns Historic Win for Maine’s Lobster Industry
It has been an exhausting, expensive fight yet in the end, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) prevailed. On June 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 3-0 in favor of the … Continue reading
Herring fishery Supreme Court case challenges federal overreach
For many years, East Coast herring fishermen have argued that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) does not have the authority to require them to pay for mandated fisheries observers on their vessels, whose salaries … Continue reading
Marine Stewardship Council Actions “Challenging”
First published in March 2023 The origin of the acronym “snafu” comes from the military, a dry synopsis of the typical snarl of conflicting regulations and orders experienced by the troops. The same can be … Continue reading
Draft Addendum 27 Calls for LMA 1, LMA 3 Gauge Increases
Maine lobstermen will have the opportunity to voice their thoughts about the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) draft Addendum 27 to the lobster fishery management plan at three public hearings in early March. The … Continue reading