Members of Maine’s fishing community are calling on President Donald Trump to change policies they say are harming the state’s lobstermen.

“The Maine lobster fishery has, unfortunately, been no stranger to federal regulatory abuse,” Patrice McCarron, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, wrote in a recent letter to Trump. “MLA welcomes the policy changes.”

Since passing an executive order in April to support the U.S. seafood industry, Trump has been signaling that he intends to change commercial fishing and lobstering regulations in New England. It’s unclear, though, exactly what Trump wants to address and whether any of those rules could change things for Maine fishermen.

In public remarks and social media posts, the president has conflated issues about two unrelated fishing areas in the region, at times sharing inaccurate information.

Still, Maine lobstering organizations believe Trump generally gets the gist — and cares about their core issues.

“We trust he will follow through on his plans,” Dustin Delano, with the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association, said in an emailed statement.

NATIONAL MARINE MONUMENT

Former President Barack Obama closed a 4,900-square-mile area off the coast of Cape Cod to fishing in 2016 when he designated it a national marine monument to “preserve and conserve its unique and pristine ocean habitats.” It was then reopened to fishing by Trump in 2020, but closed again by former President Joe Biden in 2021.

Trump was expected to sign a proclamation to once again allow fishing in that area on May 9, according to Reuters. He then said in a Truth Social post on May 27 that he is “working diligently to bring these valuable Fishing Rights back to Maine,” but facing “certain obstacles that only your political leaders can tell you about.”

Trump claimed that banning fishing in that area has taken a significant toll on Maine lobstermen. But McCarron, with the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said Rhode Island and Massachusetts lobstermen are the primary fishers in that area.

Even so, she said eliminating the monument would have symbolic meaning in Maine.

“Controlling where people can and cannot fish through an executive order completely circumvents the public process through which we manage fisheries,” McCarron said.

GRAY ZONE

Trump has also indicated interest in a 277-square-mile area of ocean off the northern coast of Maine called the Gray Zone. The U.S. and Canada both claim sovereignty over Machias Seal Island. That’s led to a long-standing dispute over who has the right to fish in this area, where there has been a strong Maine presence for years.

Maine lobstermen feel that Canadians have encroached on territory where they were the primary fishers for a long time. Canada also has more relaxed conservation regulations than the U.S.

McCarron and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, have said those discrepancies make fishing easier for Canadians and, in turn, give them an unfair advantage.

Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, sent a letter on May 28 imploring the president to address these problems.

“Mr. President, as you continue to engage the Canadian government in pursuit of a fair and equitable relationship, I respectfully urge you to advocate for Maine’s lobster industry by defending our sovereign rights over our waters,” wrote Faulkingham, who is a lobsterman.

The challenge, however, is that the problem can only be solved by bringing the U.S. and Canada together to find an agreement on these fishing rules. And as America’s relationship with Canada has been upended since Trump took office, can those conversations even happen?

RIGHT WHALE REGULATIONS

McCarron said the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s foremost priority is addressing the pending right whale regulations, which lobstermen fear would bar them from using traditional trap-and-buoy lobster gear. Previously proposed rules were shot down by a federal judge in 2023 because they relied “upon worst-case scenarios or pessimistic assumptions.”

The association and Golden are asking Trump to closely oversee the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to prevent the agency from “regulating the Maine lobster fishery out of existence.”

“We need assurance that our fishery is going to be treated fairly, and that decisions that drive these management priorities are going to be made with the best available information that is, you know, not biased in any way,” McCarron said.