Maine is the nation's largest lobster fishing state. Although lobsters are a pricey delicacy today, 200 years ago they were considered food for the poor. As demand increased, new equipment and regulations became an integral part of Maine's lobster fishing industry.
- In Maine and throughout the Northeast, lobsters were once so plentiful that native people used them as fertilizer. The colonists served them to prisoners and indentured servants.
- As demand increased in markets like New York and Boston, lobster fishermen began using specially designed boats to transport live lobster over long distances. In 1836, the Burnham & Morrill Company of Maine began canning lobster meat to preserve it.
- Lobsters were originally caught by hand in tidal basins. According to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Maine's lobster fishermen began using traps in the 1850s.
- In the early 1940s, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) created regulations to protect lobsters from overfishing. The rules established size requirements for a "legal" lobster and specific fishing locations. The Maine Department of Marine Resources oversees the state's lobster industry in coordination with the ASMFC.
- Lobster fishing can be a cutthroat business. Many Maine lobster fishermen come from a long line of family fishermen, each laying unofficial claim to a fishing area. Among the different families, there are often informal agreements about where each fisherman will set their pots.
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