What It Means For American Lobster To Be On The ‘Red List’

Though American lobster was downgraded from a ranking of “Good Alternative” (yellow) to “Avoid” (red) by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, it isn’t the lobsters the Seafood Watch Program is concerned about. According to Seafood Watch’s report, the reason behind the downgrade is that some lobster fisheries in Canada and the United States “[pose] a risk to overfished or at-risk species, including endangered North Atlantic right whales.” The program explains the right whales can get tangled in the gear used with lobster traps, resulting in deadly consequences.

As its website explains, the Seafood Watch Program is a sustainable seafood movement leader relied upon by some companies to make seafood-purchasing decisions. According to AP News, there are thousands of those businesses that use Seafood Watch’s advice, including Blue Apron, which stopped offering a seasonal lobster option before the downgrade was issued, and HelloFresh which also agreed to stop selling lobster.

At least one governor isn’t happy with the downgrade of American lobster. Janet Mills, Governor of Maine, stated, “No right whale death has been attributed to Maine gear, and there has not been a right whale entanglement attributed to Maine lobster gear in eighteen years” (via WMTW NEWS 8 PORTLAND). Until Maine and the Seafood Watch agree on a sustainable path forward, lobster lovers looking to avoid controversy can find a list of other lobster options on the Seafood Watch Program recommendations list here.