2025 Maine Lobster Boat Races are ready to rev up the coast
Published onThe Maine Lobster Boat Race Association is gearing up for another exciting season, bringing roaring engines, tight competition, and a deep-rooted maritime culture to harbors up and down the states coast. Every summer, fishermen, boatbuilders, and spectators gather to celebrate the speed and power of working lobster boats during the Maine Lobster Boat Races. These races turn into community-wide events. Whether youre racing, rafting up, or watching from the shore, theres no better way to embrace Maines fishing heritage than by experiencing the races firsthand. 2025 Maine Lobster Boat Race Schedule JUNE 14 (Saturday) Boothbay Harbor Lobster Boat Races15 (Sunday) Rockland Harbor Lobster Boat Races22 (Sunday) Bass Harbor Pier Lobster Boat Races (Tremont) JULY 5 (Saturday) Jonesport-Beals (Moosabec Reach) Lobster Boat Races13 (Sunday) Stonington Lobster Boat Races20 (Sunday) Friendship Lobster Boat Races27 (Sunday) Harpswell Lobster Boat Races AUGUST 9 (Saturday) Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races10 (Sunday) Merritt ...
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Applications open: NEYFA’s 2025 Deckhand to Captain Training Program
Published onFor commercial fishermen ready to take the next step toward boat ownership, the New England Young Fishermens Alliance (NEYFA) is now accepting applications for its 2025 Deckhand to Captain (DTC) Training Program. This nine-month intensive course, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is designed to equip experienced deckhands with the skills to transition into owner-operators. Now entering its fourth year, the DTC program provides a hands-on, mentor-driven approach to business development in commercial fishing. Trainees gain critical knowledge in business planning, financing, industry regulations, vessel operations, collaborative marketing, and public speaking. The program offers one-on-one mentorship with seasoned captains, class guest speakers, and industry professionals, all guided by NEYFAs founder, Andrea Tomlinson. Tomlinson, a dedicated advocate for the future of commercial fishing, launched the program in 2022 after years of development. Her passion for supporting working waterfronts and strengthening the next generation of fishermen is ...
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Nova Scotia lobster fleet goes electric
Published onNova Scotia has been on the path towards electrification of its lobster fleet since at least 2016, when the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association and researchers from the University of Victoria began studying the feasibility of using hybrid electric vessels in the fishery. The team released its reportCharacterization of Canadian Marine Vessel Operational Profiles and Hybrid Electric Propulsion System Modelling Tool Improvement for GHG and Ship Noise Reductionin 2019, and more studies and research have followed. In 2022, Oceans North, a Canadian charity that supports marine conservation and climate action in partnership with Indigenous and coastal communities, began bringing together the necessary partners to design, build, and demonstrate a vessel powered by all-electric propulsion technology in the near-shore lobster fleet. Joining forces with the Halifax-based naval architecture firm Allswater, which specializes in fishing vessels, Oceans North released its own electrification assessment in 2023. "We wanted to find ...
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Maine urges voluntary action as right whale sightings surge
Published onThe Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) commissioner Patrick Keliher, along with fishing organizations in the state has alerted lobstermen to take precautions to prevent entanglements with right whales. Following a large presence of the mammals being spotted off the states southern coast. Keliher said regulators have detected as many as 90 individual whales on the western edge of Jeffreys Ledge off the southern coast of the state. In a statement, Keliher asked lobstermen to voluntarily remove traps set in greater than 300 feet of water the area with the largest overlap of gear and whales. If harvesters are unwilling to remove traps entirely, Keliher asks them to at least drop one endline to reduce the number of vertical lines that whales can encounter. Federal and state law enforcement will not be enforcing requirements for two endlines at this time. Let me be clear, this is not mandatory; this ...
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Maine lobster industry in heated debate over gauge increase
Published onMaine's lobster industry is at a crossroads, grappling with proposed size limit changes that have stirred passionate debates among fishermen and regulators alike. Last nights Department of Marine Resources (DMR) meeting in Augusta served as the epicenter of this controversy, focusing on a proposal to raise the minimum size limit for lobsters. This seemingly minor adjustment of 1/16 of an inch has ignited fierce opposition from the lobstering community, who fear the economic repercussions could be devastating; some fishermen had proven the increase to be significant by testing out the measure for themselves before it was to go into effect on July 1, 2025. The proposal aimed to address a reported 35 percent decline in the lobster population within the state's primary fishing area, Lobster Management Area 1 (LMA 1), as highlighted by data from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). However, many fishermen have questioned ...
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Upgrading Miss Quahog
Published onThe Miss Quahog, a 45-foot lobster boat, left Farrins Boatshop in Walpole, Maine, this November after the completion of several renovations. It was nothing major, said shop owner Bruce Farrin. That said, the boats owner was extremely appreciative of one of those renovations, the new rubber decking. The shop, which Farrin operates with sons Bruce Jr. and Brian, built the Miss Quahog on a Young Brothers hull 4 years ago with a deck that was finished off with fiberglass and gelcoat. This year, the new rubber decking was laid out in 4-foot-wide strips and glued down with Tile Bond. In early December, Farrin said the Miss Quahogs owner came in and proclaimed, What a difference! Its not slippery. Its easy on your feet. It doesnt tire you out like standing on a fiberglass deck and its easy to keep clean. Other Miss Quahog renovations included remodeling the ...
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DFO: 30% of Atlantic Canada lobster catch goes unreported
Published onThe federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans suspects hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lobster is caught in Atlantic Canadian waters each year but never reported to authorities, raising both tax evasion and conservation implications in the country's largest fishery. Read more
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Maine lobstermen question cut in herring quota
Published onPORTLAND (WGME) Fishermen in Maine say they're dealing with a new setback: a nearly 90 percent cut in how much herring they can bring in to bait lobster. Congressman Jared Golden says he's opposed to the limit, which would reduce the herring catch by 89 percent over three years. Fishermen in Maine say they question how regulators came to that catch limit, saying the fish are out there. Read more
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Video: Maine lobsterman reacts to news of whale death
Published onNOAA said the endangered Atlantic right whale was found dead near Martha's Vineyard earlier this year and determined this week it died of chronic entanglement. Read more
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Nova Scotia lobstermen walk out over poaching crisis
Published onLobstermen from Eastern Canada, also known as the Maritime provinces, walked out of a Tuesday meeting with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the federal institution that manages the countrys oceans and fisheries resources. The meeting started with a discussion of a motion made by harvester representatives to discuss the issues of the ongoing poaching that has been happening in the region. The DFO officials then refused to amend the agenda, according toCTV News Atlantic. 11 fishing association, who represent 3,000 lobster license holders, shared in a statement that Lobster Fishing Areas 27 through 38 then decided to leave the meeting. Inshore lobster fishery areas. Courtesy of Shelburne County Lobster Festival Areas 27 through 38 are the fishing grounds that surround Nova Scotia and touch the offshore limits. The statement released by the 11 groups also read, Black market lobster fishing, out of season, must be stopped. DFO has declared ...
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Record-setting fleet at Winter Harbor wraps up Maine Lobster Boat Racing
Published onWinter Harbor, Maine, was the place to be on Aug. 25 if you ever wanted to see a lot of lobster boats gathered in one place. It was the last day of the 2024 lobster boat racing season and 183 boats were signed up to race. Thats the most boats to ever take part in a Maine lobster boat race. It was a make-up race, as foul weather canceled the original Winter Harbor race scheduled for Aug. 10. Winter Harbors previous high number was 167 in 2019, and before that,140 boats in 2004. Winter Harbor has always been at the top, for turnout, said Jon Johansen, president of Maine Lobster Boat Racing, because they do the hull thing. That is, a new lobster boat hull is given away in a drawing after the races. All a lobsterman has to do is race his boat and his name is ...
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Maine Lobster Boat Racing season’s home stretch
Published onThe weekend of August 17 and 18 was the last complete weekend for Maines 2024 lobster boat racing season with races held at Long Island on Saturday. Then the boats ran about 6 miles to the West for Sundays races in Portland. Forty-eight boats raced at Long Island, which was 7 more than last year. Normally this past weekend would have closed down Maines lobster boat racing season, but because the Winter Harbor races, which were scheduled for Saturday Aug. 10, were cancelled due to inclement weather, and rescheduled for Sunday Aug. 25, there is thus another race to go. At Long Island 48 boats raced, which was 7 more than last year. Fortunately, it was decent weather, as opposed to 2023 when some boats encountered 10- to 12-foot seas when making the run to Long Island. This years was real easy, no heavy wind or anything, said ...
Read MoreFisheries minister: Illegal lobstering fueling organized crime
Published onNova Scotia's fisheries minister says the federal failure to stop what he calls illegal out-of-season fishing in some of the most lucrative lobster grounds in the country has fuelled organized crime that is "terrorizing the community" along a stretch of the province's southwest. Kent Smith made the comments in a letter last week to his federal counterpart, Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier, in which he claims the illegal fishery has "entrenched itself" in the region of Clare and surrounding areas. Smith said in an interview his letter does not refer to the Sipekne'katik First Nation fishery,which is now the subject of a lawsuitand is currently being conducted outside of federal regulations in St. Marys Bay, which runs adjacent to the coastal communities of Clare. Read more
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Father-daughter team wins Maine lobster boat race
Published onLONG ISLAND, Maine Dozens of boats zipped across Casco Bay during the Maine Lobster Boat Races on Saturday. Only one had a purple bottom. That boat, a 32-footer with a powerful diesel engine, belonged to Jeremy Beal, 45, a large, soft-spoken man who comes from a long line of boat builders and lobstermen. See, I grew up right in it, he said between drags of a cigarette while leaning against the rail of his boat on the evening before the big race. For decades, Mr. Beals father, Wayne Beal, and an uncle, Calvin Beal, have built boats used by commercial fishers up and down the Maine coast. After years spent learning the family trade, Jeremy took over his dads business, Wayne Beals Boat Shop, in Jonesport, a seaside town more than 200 miles northeast of Portland. Read more
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Maine Lobster Boat Racing heads toward home stretch
Published onSunday, Aug. 11 marked the 8th race in Maines 2024 Lobster Boat Racing season. That was the Pemaquid Merritt Brackett races, named after a local engine mechanic. The previous days races at Winter Harbor were cancelled due to inclement weather but have been rescheduled for Sunday, Aug. 25. Forty-eight boats raced at Pemaquid. Add that to the previous seven races and this years total race-boat count is 475. Three races remain: Long Island, Portland and Winter Harbor. Pemaquid was the only race this year where fewer boats raced than in 2023, when 56 lobster boats came to the starting line. It was also the first race without any boats entered in any the three gasoline classes Four- and six-cylinder gas, 24-feet and over; Gas V-8 any cubic inch, 24-feet and over; Gas V8 modified. Offering an explanation for the lack of gas-powered lobster ...
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Game of inches: lobstermen fear measure increase
Published onPORTLAND, Maine Gerry Cushman has seen Maines iconic lobster industry survive numerous threats in his three decades on the water, but the latest challenge which might sound tiny could be the biggest one yet. Read more
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