A California court has dismissed a 2022 case against a West Coast aquarium for featuring American lobster on its “red list” of species not to eat.

This is barely a week after New England’s lobster fishermen dropped the lawsuit to which they had pegged $75,000 in damages.

The suit began in September 2022 when Seafood Watch of Monterey Bay Aquarium, California advised against eating lobster from North America. The firm alleged its intention was to save the right whale which often gets entangled in lobster fishing traps. 

Seafood Watch is a major influencer of seafood sustainability decisions and its call motivated several American grocers to remove lobster stocks.

In 2023, lobster harvesters from Massachusetts sued for damages in California, saying the aquarium’s call would result in financial losses.

On January 8, 2024 a Northern District California judge received direction that both sides had agreed to dismiss the suit. The court’s official dismissal of the case followed thereafter on January 16.

However, the ‘do not eat lobster’ listing is still bubbling under. Another group made up of Maine lobster industry’s stakeholders filed a similar litigation back in 2023. 

According to AP newswire, Maine Lobstermen’s Association still awaits a reply from Maine District Court on the case.

This at a time when Maine has mandated all fishermen to install right whale traceability systems to avoid accidental catches. 

Lobster an Endangered Species in St. Kitts & Nevis

Even as the California-based aquarium fights to save the right whale by advising lobster boycott, further afield , others are fighting to save lobster. The Caribbean island of St. Kitts & Nevis views lobster as endangered and wants to hatch more at sea.

Nevis’ Department of Marine Resources (DMR) stated on January 16 that it is to build artificial coral reefs as hatcheries.

The 2024 project will see the state’s scuba divers brave the waters to build the reefs using conch shells undersea.

Among endangered species to hatch will include young fish, lobster and sea creatures that live in shells.

Echoing the American fight against wrongful entrapping of right whales, Nevis’ Marine Management Unit also wants to eradicate lost traps. The abandoned traps pose a danger to fish as they keep them in captivity undersea until they die.

St. Kitts & Nevis fisheries lost 100 such traps in 2023. DMR opines the traps could have meant $96,000 worth of fish per year were they still operational.