AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine fishermen will be able to land less menhaden, a key bait fish for the state's lobster industry, after an interstate fisheries board voted to cut the coastwide catch limit for 2027 and 2028, Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Carl Wilson said in a statement Thursday.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved a coastwide limit of 170,000 metric tons for 2027 and 155,000 metric tons for 2028, according to the statement. The 2027 figure is a 9% reduction from the 2026 limit of 186,840 metric tons, and the department said 2028 brings another 9% cut.

Based on Maine's share, the state's quota will be about 17.8 million pounds in 2027 and 16.2 million pounds in 2028, the Maine Department of Marine Resources said.

Wilson said the issue divided the board, given menhaden's importance as both bait and forage. Maine supported a motion to keep the limit unchanged, which the lobster industry had sought, but it did not pass. Wilson said the approved cut is "a significantly better alternative for our bait industry" than other motions, including a 39% reduction for 2027 and a 30% reduction phased in across 2027 and 2028. He said Maine argued those larger cuts would be "devastating" to its bait and lobster fisheries.

On the second day of the meeting, the board briefly took up how the catch is divided among states. A motion not to change the allocation, which Maine did not make, was postponed until the board's winter meeting.

Wilson said Maine will keep asking other states for quota transfers, as it did after an earlier 20% reduction, and will work with the industry on managing the state's quota and getting bait to lobstermen when they need it most. The department said it will also look at ways to offset the economic impact of the lower limits.

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