January 14, 2025 — The head of the Maine Department of Marine Resources said the agency is dropping a controversial proposal to increase the minimum size for lobster.
Commissioner Pat Keliher announced the change Thursday night during a heated public meeting with lobstermen in Augusta. Federal fisheries regulators approved the minimum size increase in response to studies showing sharp declines in young lobster in the Gulf of Maine. But lobstermen have questioned that data and predicted the change will benefit Canadian lobstermen.
Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a lobsterman from Winter Harbor, said DMR’s shift is quote “great news.”
“Lobstermen turned out by the hundreds to oppose this. We were going to get devastated by Canada taking our lobsters if we had implemented this without an agreement with them. So it’s good to put a pause on this rule and keep our market in tact,” Faulkingham said.