MAINE PUBLIC • February 22, 2022
Regulators are holding off on a plan to require lobstermen to install electronic trackers on their boats. Members of the American Lobster Management Board Tuesday considered a raft of industry concerns about the technology's purposes, its cost, and data-privacy, and then decided to take more time to evaluate the issues. Scientists and conservationists support the electronic tracking program, saying it will provide much-needed data that can help the lobster fleet and vulnerable marine life coexist, as well as protect the fishery when offshore wind projects are being sited along the Atlantic seaboard. The lobster board agreed to delay final action until its next meeting, in the spring.