June 22, 2016 — Maine has expanded its ban on lobstering and crabbing in a small section of Penobscot Bay after finding elevated mercury levels in lobsters tested south of the existing no-fishing zone.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources had declared seven square miles of the Penobscot River estuary off limits to lobstermen and crabbers in 2014 after a federal court-ordered study detected elevated mercury levels in lobsters found as far south as Fort Point on the west bank and Wilson Point on the east bank. On Tuesday, based on the results of state-funded tests done after the initial closure, the department announced it would add 5.5 square miles to the no-fishing zone, extending it south to Squaw Point on Cape Jellison and Perkins Point in Castine.
The average amount of mercury found in the tails of legal size lobsters harvested off Cape Jellison in testing done in 2014 was about 292.7 nanograms per gram of tissue, according to state findings. That exceeds the 200-nanogram threshold recommended by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention – the Department of Marine Resources uses that level to decide if an area is unsafe to fish – but is lower than the 350 nanograms of mercury per gram of tissue found in canned white tuna, officials said.
“We are adding this very small, targeted area to the closure so consumers can continue to be confident in the exceptional quality of Maine lobster,” said Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher.