BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 31, 2021
Maine Sea Grant staff and Maine-based researchers will advance a multimillion-dollar NOAA Sea Grant American Lobster Initiative, which announced its third round of funding. Six newly funded research projects, three of which are led by Maine-based researchers, will address critical gaps in knowledge about how the American lobster is being impacted by environmental change in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and southern New England. One of the most iconic modern American fisheries, the American lobster also represents one of the largest and most valuable single species fisheries along the Atlantic coast. In 2020, the landings value of the American lobster fishery was estimated at $524.5 million in the United States, of which the Maine fishery accounted for an estimated $408 million. Within Maine, lobsters make up roughly 80 percent of the landings value of all fisheries combined.