The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has repealed a controversial proposal that would change the minimum catch sizes for lobster.
The gauge and trap vent changes — initially designed to preserve the young lobster population — were the subject of years of debate. It finally reached a boiling point last month, when the Maine Department of Marine Resources pulled the regulation after a heated meeting with lobstermen.
The state of New Hampshire said it would also drop the regulation.
Fisheries managers along the East Coast agreed Tuesday morning to repeal the measures altogether.
Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher said rolling back the policies will allow the industry to start over and develop new measures that fishermen can agree on that are intended to preserve the young lobster population.
“There is a very vocal group that is saying we don’t need to do anything right now. And they are wrong. They are dead wrong,” Keliher, who chairs the commission’s American Lobster Management Board, said during the group’s meeting on Tuesday morning. “We need to find something to do that helps stabilize this. Other comments that I’ve heard today around this table are spot on, and it’ll be sad friggin’ day if we don’t do something.”
Commissioners from other states agreed but said they were disappointed in the outcome.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said the industry is committed to working with fisheries managers on a solution that fishermen can support.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
