American Lobster Draft Addendum XXXII

In February 2025, the American Lobster Management Board initiated Draft Addendum XXXII, which will consider removing several provisions of Addendum XXVII, specifically the gauge and vent size changes for Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMA) 1 (Gulf of Maine), 3 (offshore federal waters) and Outer Cape Cod. If the removal of these provisions are approved, the size limit increase scheduled for July 1 will not occur. 

Addendum XXVII was originally proposed in 2017 with the goal of increasing protection of the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank (GOM/GBK) spawning stock biomass considering significant declines in juvenile settlement indices since 2012. At the time, the Technical Committee warned the decreasing trend in young-of-year lobster could foreshadow a decline in recruitment and landings. Adopted in May 2023, after almost six years of technical analysis, deliberations, and postponements, Addendum XXVII established a trigger mechanism to automatically implement management measures (i.e., gauge and escape vent changes) to provide additional protection of the spawning stock biomass based on an observed decline in recruit abundance indices. The management trigger was selected to be proactive, risk-averse, and precautionary, aiming to minimize the chances of the (GOM/GBK) stock experiencing a long-term decline similar to that of the Southern New England lobster stock. Unfortunately, over the course of Addendum XXVII’s development, numbers of juveniles remained low and recruit abundance (lobsters measuring 71-80 mm in carapace length, just below legal minimum size) began to decline. Since peaking in 2016, lobster landings from the Gulf of Maine have also declined by 26%, and preliminary data from Maine indicate continued decline in 2024.

In October 2023, the recruit abundance index declined by 39% from the 2016-2018 average, surpassing the threshold of a 35% decline established by Addendum XXVII. This triggered a series of gauge and vent size changes to begin on June 1, 2024 as prescribed by the Addendum. However, the Board delayed the implementation of the measures to January 1, 2025 to provide the Gulf of Maine states the opportunity to coordinate with Canada regarding possible trade implications, and give the industry and gauge makers additional time to prepare for the changes. In October 2024, after identifying potential impacts to the US and Canadian lobster industries in early 2025 and allow Canada more time to consider implementing complementary management measures, the Board postponed implementation of the Addendum’s gauge size, escape vent size, and v-notch definition changes a second time to July 1, 2025.

• Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740