Research team develops more holistic way to monitor lobster industry

Maine’s lobster fishery—one that supports thousands of jobs statewide—is extensively monitored. Management efforts are informed by biological monitoring surveys observing changes in abundance and distribution of the lobster population, and dealer and harvester reporting from the industry. Yet these statistics don’t tell the whole story of an industry shaken by supply and market disruptions and geopolitical conflict, or the welfare of the people and communities that rely on it.

Since the annual commercial lobster landings declined 27% from 2016-2022, the Maine Lobsterman Association has sought new ways to monitor the socioeconomic resilience of the industry and better position its leaders to respond to social, economic, environmental and regulatory changes.

After two years of data collection, quantitative and qualitative analyses, meetings and interviews with lobstermen and other stakeholders, a University of Maine-led team of researchers devised new indicators to holistically monitor the industry’s resilience. These metrics have the potential to offer greater insight into the well-being of fishermen and their families, haulers, processors, restaurateurs, other businesses and the communities in which they all reside.

The study is published in the journal Marine Policy.

“For far too long, fishery managers have lacked the data needed to consider the social and economic impacts of regulations on Maine’s lobster industry. This study provides a suite of indicators to fill that gap so that future regulations may address sustaining the resource, lobstermen and Maine’s coastal communities,” said Patrice McCarron, executive director for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association.

The team identified eight socioeconomic indicators: coastal accessibility, operational condition, business investments, community composition, financial health, risk-taking, personal spending, and physical and mental health. Coastal accessibility is the availability and affordability of waterfront housing; operational condition equates to business expenses and cost proxies; and community composition means demographic information.

Each indicator is backed by secondary data from state and federal agencies, as well as publicly available information from certain businesses and organizations. For example, the operational condition indicator uses landing, trip, crew and gear data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources, while coastal accessibility uses inventory, price and demographic data from the Maine Housing Authority, Realtor.com and Airbnb.com.

“These indicators define important socioeconomic components of the fishery that lobstermen have been describing for many years. Quantifying the indicators provides an opportunity for fishermen, local communities and managers to identify and quickly respond to changes in the socioeconomic condition of the fleet,” said Theresa Burnham, a research associate with the UMaine School of Marine Sciences. Burnham co-led the study conducted to create these socioeconomic indicators with Joshua Stoll, associate professor of marine policy.

Diving into the data

When examining coastal accessibility, one of the team’s findings was that waterfront housing statewide is unaffordable for median income earners. Coupled with a spike in short-term rentals, the data confirms that coastal accessibility has decreased since 2016 statewide.

“The declines we are seeing in affordability of coastal housing can mean that lobstermen must travel further to the waterfront where they work, and may also be a barrier to people looking for seasonal work on lobster boats,” Burnham said.

Data and interviews also highlighted the regional differences in the lobster industry. Operational conditions, a proxy for lobstermen’s costs and earnings, increased in eastern Maine—Washington and Hancock counties—but decreased in southern Maine—York and Cumberland counties, and the midcoast. Interviews and data also indicated that communities in southern Maine are the least dependent on the lobster industry for their socioeconomic well-being.

The development of these indicators lays the foundation for enhanced monitoring of the state’s lobster industry, but researchers are seeking more data to better utilize the indicators. While the coastal accessibility and operational condition indicators were deemed data-rich, personal spending and physical and mental health were deemed data-poor due to a lack of public, varied and no-cost data. Metrics with varied but insufficient statistics that were deemed data-limited include business investments, community composition, financial health and risk-taking.

Additional data sharing with private businesses and government agencies will improve the utility of several socioeconomic indicators and expand insight into the well-being of the industry and the communities it supports. Future research can also reveal additional ways to use the indicators, including serving as a model to monitor other fisheries, such as clam and cod.

“This research will provide valuable data to help researchers and regulators understand the connection between the biological status of the resource and the socioeconomic well-being of the industry and the communities it serves,” said Kathleen Reardon, study co-author and senior lobster biologist at the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

In addition to Reardon and Burnham, the study was co-authored by Joelle Kilchenmann, a UMaine marine policy master’s student; Carla Guenther, chief scientist for the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries; and Maggie O’Shea, a Dartmouth College Ph.D. student.