February 13, 2019 — Imagine running a trucking business and having your supply of diesel fuel cut by 70 percent.
For all practical purposes, that’s what happened to the Maine lobster industry last week.
On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries arm announced that it was cutting the 2019 herring quota by about 70 percent. That’s bad news for lobstermen.
While diesel oil is the fuel that powers most lobster boats, herring is the fuel that powers the Maine lobster industry.
Herring is the most popular bait used in the Maine lobster fishery and with the cut in the herring quota from about 110 million pounds last year to about 33 million pounds this year, bait is going to be scarce, and expensive.
The reduction wasn’t unexpected.
Last August, at the request of the New England Fishery Management Council, NOAA reduced the 2018 annual catch limit (ACL) for herring from about 231 million pounds to about 107 million pounds to reduce the risk of overfishing.
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