{"id":21867,"date":"2025-02-11T09:47:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T09:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=21867"},"modified":"2025-05-12T12:56:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T12:56:02","slug":"gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gulf of Maine lobster fishermen will not throw back market-ready lobster into the ocean after a February 4, 2025 size rule repeal<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An association serving 11 states on the East Coast of the United States finally begrudgingly decided to favor worried fishermen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision by the American Lobster Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission now annuls the looming July 1, 2025<\/u><\/a> size limit deadline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1-<\/strong>Pound Lobster Off Tables?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The July 1st<\/sup> rule would have eliminated the most popular lobster size in the North American market, the 1-to-1.25-pounder<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the mid-2023 rule had made it impossible to harvest lobster smaller than 3 5\/16 inches in carapace length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this was just the tip of the iceberg for summer 2025 would have brought the minimum to 3 3\/8 inches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beforehand, lobstermen could have legally fished shellfish as little as 3 1\/4 inches long using a measure they call a gauge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reluctant Repeal<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fishermen’s union argued that decreasing size would have made local lobster virtually uncompetitive against Canada\u2019s American lobster species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After much agitation, the American Lobster Board reluctantly conceded but lamented giving up Gulf fisheries\u2019 protection at the \u201c11th<\/sup> hour.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel McKiernan, director at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries rued the surrender and wittingly attributed it to 100 angry fishermen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maine Lobster Stock Decline<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The reason for reducing size has been of a protective nature, at a time when Maine waters are warming faster than normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, the board had made it mandatory to reduce harvest if scientific proof showed a decline in lobster population by 35%.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did results show a decline in 2023, but the decrease was 40% versus that of the 2016-18 period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this decline shows the decision to revert size cuts has nothing to do with healthy stocks, it has nevertheless generated industry celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dustin Delano, a lobsterman and COO of New England Fishermen\u2019s Stewardship Association enthused to AP that lobster brings billions regionally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of the belated repeal, U.S.\u2019 lobster prices<\/u><\/a> could ameliorate. The prices had recently pushed up, following an oncoming tariff on imports from Canada, a major source of lobster.  And as the data below shows, Gulf of Maine lobster is not only a price decider but a leading American seafood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gulf of Maine Lobster Statistics<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Gulf of Maine is a sea depression along the New England Coast with a surface area of 93,000 square km.  Although its marine richness owes to cold waters, scientists have recorded warming waters. This has partially occasioned a reduction in lobster stock by 40% between 2016 and 2023.  Be it as it may, the estuary provides 93% of American lobster species (Homarus Americanus)<\/em> landings from just the states of Maine and Massachusetts<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have Gulf of Maine\u2019s lobster earnings evolved since 201<\/strong>3<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gulf\u2019s catch value in 2013 was $364 million from a volume of126 million pounds. Three years later in 2016, the gulf was providing 2\/3rds of the lobster harvest in the United States, per the Marine Stewardship Council.<\/u><\/a>  By 2023, the state of Maine alone earned $464.4 million from lobster sales totaling 42,517 tonnes<\/u><\/a> (93.5 million pounds). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has price kept up with declining <\/strong>lobster <\/strong>population<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2020 and 2023, catches remained steady despite a population decline of 40%, but prices fluctuated. In Maine, landing (wholesale) prices were between $6.50 and 7 a pound<\/u><\/a>, according to fishermen\u2019s data. By 2022, the price had reached an all-time record of $6.71 a pound while in 2023 it halved to $3.97 per pound<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gulf of Maine lobster fishermen will not throw back market-ready lobster into the ocean after a February 4, 2025 size rule repeal. An association serving 11 states on the East Coast of the United States finally begrudgingly decided to favor worried fishermen.  The decision by the American Lobster Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nGulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf of Maine lobster fishermen will not throw back market-ready lobster into the ocean after a February 4, 2025 size rule repeal. An association serving 11 states on the East Coast of the United States finally begrudgingly decided to favor worried fishermen.  The decision by the American Lobster Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-11T09:47:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-12T12:56:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Lobster.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Timothy Wahome\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Timothy Wahome\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/\",\"name\":\"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-11T09:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-12T12:56:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c0aad9a1f85037798080d75b4302cf8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News\",\"description\":\"Discover the Latest in Food and Agriculture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c0aad9a1f85037798080d75b4302cf8\",\"name\":\"Timothy Wahome\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/636da6c8288b7dcaef01a42b50c3bc41?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/636da6c8288b7dcaef01a42b50c3bc41?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Timothy Wahome\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/author\/twt4wahomegmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News","og_description":"Gulf of Maine lobster fishermen will not throw back market-ready lobster into the ocean after a February 4, 2025 size rule repeal. An association serving 11 states on the East Coast of the United States finally begrudgingly decided to favor worried fishermen.  The decision by the American Lobster Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/","og_site_name":"Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News","article_published_time":"2025-02-11T09:47:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-12T12:56:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":520,"url":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Lobster.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Timothy Wahome","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Timothy Wahome","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/","name":"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal - Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-11T09:47:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-12T12:56:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c0aad9a1f85037798080d75b4302cf8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/02\/11\/gulf-of-maine-lobster-gets-eleventh-hour-harvest-size-repeal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gulf of Maine lobster gets eleventh hour harvest size repeal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/","name":"Selina Wamucii | Food & Agriculture News","description":"Discover the Latest in Food and Agriculture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c0aad9a1f85037798080d75b4302cf8","name":"Timothy Wahome","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/636da6c8288b7dcaef01a42b50c3bc41?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/636da6c8288b7dcaef01a42b50c3bc41?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Timothy Wahome"},"url":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/author\/twt4wahomegmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21867"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22441,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21867\/revisions\/22441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}