June 27, 2014 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has asked the U.S. Department of Justice for relief from a 56-year-old restriction that limits the trade group’s ability to discuss management of the fishery.
The association, which represents 1,200 commercial lobstermen, filed a request Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland, seeking to terminate a consent decree issued in 1958 after a price-fixing judgment against the organization and its leader.
The order prevents the trade group from discussing any issues that affect the supply of lobsters. It is obsolete and no longer needed, the request says, because the association does not do any lobster fishing, and federal antitrust laws prohibiting price fixing have been enacted since then.
“The decree itself has language that is more restrictive than the antitrust laws are themselves,” said Mary Anne Mason, an attorney with the Washington, D.C., law firm Crowell & Moring LLP, which represents the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.
The request says the decree “may be impeding the MLA’s legitimate, lawful advocacy and educational efforts related to fisheries management regulations.”
Termination of the order would give the group latitude to participate in the formation of a Maine fishery management plan and discuss supply issues that could help the industry prosper, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the group.