September 14, 2022 — American lobster are being pulled from menus after a conservation nonprofit placed them on its ‘Red List’ of unsustainable seafood to avoid.
The organization, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, cited lobster traps as threats to endangered North Atlantic right whales, which can become tangled in the nets.
Through its partnerships with major food companies, including HelloFresh, Whole Foods and The Cheesecake Factory, the nonprofit has the potential to significantly affect demand for lobsters with this listing. Already, both HelloFresh and Blue Apron have pledged to stop selling lobster in their meal kits, writes Patrick Whittle for the Associated Press.
But the Maine lobster industry has swiftly pushed back against the move, saying that Seafood Watch has no evidence of right whale entanglements in the state’s fishing gear. Senator Angus King from Maine called the listing “outrageous and egregiously irresponsible,” at a press conference. “What in the hell are these people thinking?”