BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 28, 2022
The industry is reeling from a rough year as 2023 nears, but remains optimistic an eleventh-hour pause in new regulations will bring relief. Dark clouds along the industry’s horizon arrived in 2022, pitching the state’s biggest fishery into uncertainty. Lobster prices were cut in half, demand slowed, fuel prices skyrocketed and the industry lost legal battles that attempted to stop new restrictions on the fishing fleet. The fishery was expecting to see regulations aimed at protecting the endangered right whale start to take shape in 2023 for implementation in 2024. But just last week, the Maine congressional delegation inserted a six-year delay on any new rules in the massive federal spending bill awaiting the signature of President Joe Biden.