May 29, 2018 — For the second time in as many years, state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr has convinced the Senate to include in its $41.49 billion budget a plan to expand in-state processing of raw and frozen lobster parts.
The question now is whether — unlike 2017 — the measure will remain in the final budget.
The Tarr-sponsored measure, adopted by the Senate on Thursday night as an amendment to the fiscal 2019 budget bill, would direct the state Division of Marine Fisheries to implement new regulations that permit on-shore lobster processing “after an assessment of whether such activity would harm the lobster stock or the sustainability of the state’s commercial lobster industry.”
Tarr and the plan’s supporters, which include Democratic senators from other coastal communities, would eliminate what they described as “outdated restrictions on lobster processing and sales.”
Under the current law, the sale of live, cooked and canned lobster is legal in Massachusetts, as is the processing and sale of frozen, cooked lobster tails.
But the existing law prohibits lobstermen and seafood vendors from selling, processing or transporting other forms of lobster in-state for processing, forcing them to ship the lobster or lobster parts to processors in Maine and Canada.
Under the proposed amendment, wholesale dealers licensed by the state Department of Public Health would be able to process raw lobsters, import raw, shell-on lobster parts and tails and allow retail sales of previously frozen raw, in-shell tails.
“Massachusetts has the second largest lobster catch in the country,” Tarr said in a statement. “To keep from being left behind, we should expand our ability to process raw and frozen lobster parts. American lobsters are being harvested here and should be prepared for market here instead of Canada or Maine.”
The expansion of allowed processing practices, according to Tarr, would enhance local economies in Massachusetts coastal communities such as Gloucester, which is the state’s most lucrative lobster port, and provide local restaurants and food stores with “superior access to the best lobster parts for their customers.”
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times