October 19, 2023 — Recent assessments show that the population of young lobsters in the Gulf of Maine has dropped, on average, by nearly 40 percent over a three-year period.
The population dip comes faster than fisheries managers anticipated and will eventually trigger changes for fishermen to preserve the spawning stock.
Earlier this year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved new measures that would change the minimum and maximum catch sizes for lobster in certain parts of Maine. Those changes would occur only if the commission observes an average 35 percent decline in the young lobster population over a three-year period, compared with a prior three-year period.