Lobsters are processed at the Sea Hag Seafood plant in Tenants Harbor in 2014. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

Spurred by years of ire from Maine’s lobstermen, a board that regulates the lobster industry voted Tuesday to repeal a rule for 11 states aimed at conserving dwindling lobster populations in the Gulf of Maine and beyond.

It would have effectively increased the minimum size of lobsters that fishermen could legally catch and sell as scientists and regulators identify a growing need to preserve spawning stock.

But lobstermen, concerned that the rule would have seriously harmed Maine’s most valuable fishery, have been putting intensifying pressure on rule makers to reverse course. And fearing a lack of buy in, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher proposed repealing the rule to allow more time for the industry to come up with alternative solutions. It would have gone into effect on July 1.

“Rolling back resiliency measures is not at all what I wanted to have happened. After multiple zone council meetings, we have been unable to convince the industry that now is an appropriate time to act, ” Keliher told the board. “It’s become clear that the Maine lobster industry is focused on short term.”

Members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Board, comprising delegations from other East Coast states, begrudgingly accepted the need for the repeal. But a sense of resentment remains.

Board members are now demanding that industry members get involved to find a solution.

“You broke it. You own it. What have you got?” said board member Daniel McKiernan, director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. “We come down here in good faith, we negotiate, we work with the industry. We delay this addendum twice to help out the industry, and then to have it scuttled at the 11th hour by 100 angry Maine fishermen for reasons that we also could have seen coming is unacceptable.”

PAWS OFF THE SMALL CLAWS

In 2023, the commission passed regulations that would have increased the minimum size — from 3 1/4 inches to 3 5/16 inches — on the gauges that lobstermen use to measure lobsters and determine whether they are allowed to harvest them. A second increase would have taken effect two years later, bringing the minimum to 3 3/8 inches. The rules also affected the vents in traps that allow undersized lobsters to escape.

A gauge is a ruler that measures a lobster’s carapace, or body, to help determine whether they are long enough to catch. And the escape vents ensure that smaller lobsters are able to leave traps and return to their habitat to continue growing.

An apprentice measures a lobster to see if it’s a keeper aboard the Sea Smoke in Casco Bay in July 2023. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald, file

The rule hinged on a trigger point — it would go into effect once data indicated that Maine’s lobster stock dropped by 35% from assessments averaged between 2016 through 2018. The Maine Department of Marine Resources at the time anticipated it would take years for Maine to hit that trigger point. But five months later, that trigger was set off.

Data continues to show that warming waters related to climate change, which were at first a boon to Maine’s lobstering industry, could soon be its downfall.

STEAMED UP

Lobstermen were immediately concerned. Industry members and groups say the minimum gauge limits would have effectively forced fishermen to take 1- to 1.25-pound lobsters — which are their most popular catch — off the dinner table.

Lobstermen also question the accuracy of the federal data — saying that it was collected over a small and abnormal time frame that doesn’t indicate the reality of population trends.

The rules have led to years of disagreements. Lobstermen have called on the state, the East Coast fisheries commission’s lobster board and politicians to halt the rules from going into effect. Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, also urged regulators to at least delay the rules from taking effect until better research is collected and alternative solutions are proposed.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission did push back the start date from Jan. 1, 2025, to July.

The years-long saga culminated in an altercation between Keliher and lobstermen at a public hearing last month.

Warning: The following video contains explicit language.

A video of the meeting shows Keliher talking about how the future of the industry is at stake and people in the audience starting to talk over him before Keliher asks the crowd to listen to him.

“We don’t have to listen to you,” one man shouted. “You sold out to NOAA and Canada.”

Keliher, who has historically kept his cool under the public scrutiny of the industry, cursed at the man in response. The crowd became even more riled up. One person accused Keliher of being a sellout, other people also used profanity, while some said everyone should walk out of the meeting.

During Tuesday’s American Lobster Board meeting, Keliher briefly addressed the argument.

“I couldn’t take attacks on me or my staff any longer,” he said.

At the end of the January public hearing, Keliher announced that he would not enforce the rule in Maine — a decision that Gov. Janet Mills endorsed. Mills similarly supported Keliher’s decision to propose the repeal, a spokesperson said on Tuesday afternoon.

If the American Lobster Board had not pulled the plug for all 11 states, Maine would have needed to find an alternative way to meet the conservation standards.

AFTER CELEBRATIONS END, THE WORK MUST GO ON

Seven state delegations approved the repeal, one opposed it and three abstained from the vote. But those who voted in favor are hardly overjoyed.

“We’re all plugging our nose on this,” said Dennis Abbott, a New Hampshire delegate. “I don’t think anybody likes this, but I think we do have to accept the reality.”

Steve Train, a Long Island lobsterman and Maine delegate, also pushed back on the perception that all lobstermen stand against the size limits.

“People are saying ‘What are we going to do now?’ It’s not all ‘Oh good, we beat him,'” Train said. “I would like to see the possible alternatives. … But I don’t see where we move forward from here. I understand what’s going on. I understand why we have to do it.”

Many, however, are now breathing a sigh of relief.

“Any day regulators listen to the lobstermen is a good day for Maine,” Golden said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m proud to have stood with those Mainers to advocate for their industry and will continue to stand with them to ensure they have a seat at the table in assessing stock data and deciding what regulations — if any — are needed in the Gulf of Maine. No one is more invested in the future of our fishery than they are.”

Rule makers must now head back to the drawing board.

Keliher wants to do so with “a blank slate.” And he wants industry members to have a pen in hand. But even without a July 1 deadline, pressure has not vanished. Keliher said in a statement that he still intends to work intensively in the coming months to bolster the resiliency of Maine’s lobster population.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the most prominent group lobbying against the rules, is all in to find those solutions that meet the needs of rule makers and fishermen.

“We understand and respect the need for a governance system of the lobster industry. No one truly understood how this would blow up,” said the group’s executive director, Patrice McCaron. “The MLA is 100% committed to work with the state, other industry leaders, associations and attend zone council meetings to reframe the issue on how to have resilience in the industry.”

They have their work cut out for them, though. Relationships will need repairing. And a vocal group of skeptical lobstermen will need convincing that there is a problem to solve, at all.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Steve Train is a Maine delegate.