A panel of lawmakers this afternoon voted to move ahead with a controversial measure that will allow lobster processors in Maine to process imported, oversized lobsters. And it's a measure that's been welcomed by Maine's seafood industry, but is not so popular among the state's 4,000-plus working lobstermen.
The unanimous vote by the Advisory Council of the Department Marine Resources enables legislation enacted five-and-a-half months ago to take effect. LD 1547 was introduced as an emergency measure towards the end of the session to try and limit the losses being suffered by Maine lobster dealers.
They were already allowed to import oversized lobsters–mostly from New Brunswick, Canada–and ship them out-of-state live. They were not, however, allowed to process the lobsters, which meant they would often be left with a pile of dead lobsters, and worthless meat on their hands.
"The dealers had an issue with their loss. A lot of them wouldn't survive, they were basically weak or dead, and they took a big loss on their business," says Joe Fessenden, chief of Marine Law Enforcement at the DMR.
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