Maine Lobster trap fishery
Last Updated: 3rd March 2009
Number of fisheries: 1
Species
American lobster (Homarus americanus)
MSC assessment status
The certification body, Moody Marine Ltd, has announced that the Maine lobster trap fishery is now entering the information gathering phase of the assessment. The primary objective of this stage is to collect information on the fishery and in particular to speak to representatives of the fishery, fishery management bodies and other stakeholders of the fishery. Meetings will be carried out over the period 20-25th April 2009 in Portland, Maine, USA.
Any stakeholder with information on this fishery that should be considered in the assessment, or who wishes to meet with Moody Marine should contact Paul Knapman, no later than 3rd April 2009.
Furthermore, Moody Marine Ltd, has announced its intention to use the MSC’s default Assessment Tree (including Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts) that will be used to evaluate the Maine lobster trap fishery against the MSC Principles and Criteria.
Interested parties are invited to contact Paul Knapman by 5pm GMT, 23rd March 2009 if they wish to comment.
Please refer to the downloads section for further information.
Fishery location
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)Lobster Management Area 1
Fishing method
Trap
Fishery management
All vessels that fish in Maine State waters (within 3 miles of shore) are required to hold a state licence and respect state regulations wherever they fish (including federal waters). The state licences vessels that fish in state waters.
In federal waters (3-200 miles from shore) the fishery is managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act whereby regulations that are complimentary to the ASFMC IFMP are implemented. NMFS issue federal licences to vessels that fish in federal waters. However, it should be noted that if vessel also holds a state licence the vessel is obliged to operate under the most restrictive regulation – commonly referred to as “the most restrictive rule”.
Commercial market
Up to 70% of Maine lobster is shipped to Canada to be processed. This is predominantly new-shell lobster that cannot withstand long distance shipping to Maine's hard-shelled customers. The majority of Maine's hard-shell lobsters are shipped live to the Europe, Florida, the West Coast to major retail and restaurant chains such as Walmart, Kroger's and Red Lobster.Many are shipped to wholesalers in Boston and New York City.
Assessment timeline
The full assessment is to commence in November 2008 and is expected to take 12-14 months.
The proposed target eligibilty date is the 1st June 2009.
The MSC ecolabel can only be applied to product from certified fisheries. The MSC program does allow, in certain circumstances and within strict traceability requirements, the MSC ecolabel to be applied following certification to product caught before the actual date of certification. The target eligibility date therefore represents the date from which products may become eligible to carry the MSC ecolabel, however they cannot be sold until and if the fishery is certified. The actual eligibility date will be determined if the fishery is certified to the MSC standard.
To find out more about when fish from this fishery may be sold with the MSC ecolabel, please follow this link (http://www.msc.org/get-certified/supply-chain/eligibility-dates).
