PORTLAND, Maine — Fishermen in the largest lobster fishing state in the country must now report what they catch to authorities.
Few lobster fishermen in Maine were required to report catch until this year. That made Maine the only state that harvests lobster that did not require full reporting, the Portland Press Herald reported.
On Jan. 1 the fishermen started having to report the data to the state and the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Most lobster that comes to the docks in the U.S. does so in Maine, so the new requirement should help fill some data gaps.
The data will include information about subjects such as when, where and how many lobsters were taken.
Fishermen in the state brought about 109 million pounds of lobster to the docks in 2021. That was about four fifths of the nation’s catch.
The Maine lobster industry is also facing new rules designed to protect vanishing whales, but the state’s congressional delegation used the recent federal spending bill to delay those protections.
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