Marketing group launches petition to remove lobster from ‘avoid’ list
The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative launched a petition Friday to have a California-based watchdog group reconsider its decision to list lobster as a product that consumers should avoid.
Last week, Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch updated its rating for lobster caught in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank from a “good alternative” to “avoid.”
The update sparked an outcry in the industry and among political leaders.
The designation was assigned based on the potential danger North Atlantic right whales face in getting entangled in fishing gear. But there has not been a right whale entanglement attributed to Maine lobster gear in 18 years, industry leaders have said.
The marketing collaborative’s petition had 984 signatures this morning.
The collaborative said the updated listing “is not supported by the facts. It is counterproductive to decades of proactive efforts made by the fishery to ensure the protection of right whales, including new regulations that are still in the process of being implemented.”
It noted that the industry has implemented additional protection measures for the endangered whales since the ratings group’s 2014 assessment of Maine lobster as a “good alternative.”
To view the petition, click here.
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