PORTLAND, Maine - Federal fishing managers are asking for comments about potential changes to the way the U.S.'s lucrative lobster fishing industry is monitored.
The American lobster fishery is based in New England and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is looking to craft new rules about the way fishermen report their catch.
The NOAA is considering a recommendation to require all federal lobster permit holders to report on catches for each fishing trip. It's also looking at expanding its own offshore sampling program.
The agency's collecting comments on the possibility of new reporting requirements until July 16. Changes would be made through a future rulemaking process.
Maine lobstermen harvested more than 110 million pounds of lobster last year, which was down from 2016.