By Will Tuell

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC, which oversees most commercial fishing activity from Maine to Florida, backed off a plan to require lobstermen release bigger lobsters after a year of intense lobbying by fishing industry trade groups, the state’s congressional delegation, and Maine’s Department of Marine Resources, in a vote Oct. 21. That plan, originally set to go into effect in June 2024 was delayed to Jan. 1, 2025, and has now been pushed back again to July 1, 2025.