Federal Appeals Court Questions Lobster Industry’s Defamation Case

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston is reviewing a lawsuit initiated by fishing industry entities against the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The dispute began after the aquarium’s Seafood Watch program added American and Canadian lobster to its ‘red list’ of seafood to avoid in 2022. This action leads to a claim of defamation, potentially impacting free speech.

At a hearing on July 27, Judge Seth Aframe expressed concerns about the case, noting it may not constitute a conventional defamation claim. He indicated the case could pose a First Amendment issue, stating, “The more you broaden the class of people that fall within this, the more it feels like everybody can sue.”

The red listing was based on the belief that lobster fishing threatens rare whales, such as the North Atlantic right whale, due to possible entanglement in fishing gear. The lobster industry, predominantly in Maine, disputes this, arguing it misrepresents their operations as harmful to whales, causing economic damage. They assert that the whales face more significant threats from other fishing practices, including the Canadian snow crab industry.

Conservation groups and government agencies have long pointed to lobster and crab fisheries as serious threats to whale populations. Entanglements in fishing gear remain a major concern for these animals.

Attorney Kevin Lipson, representing the plaintiffs, maintains that the Seafood Watch report neglected to include opposing evidence and intentionally concealed it. Seafood Watch is widely recognized for its sustainability reports and influences decisions made by restaurants and retailers, some of which, like Whole Foods, stopped selling Gulf of Maine lobster after the red listing.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has chosen not to comment further. According to their attorney Amy Saharia, Seafood Watch did not specifically name any plaintiffs in its report.

This legal matter continues through various proceedings, with a lower federal court previously allowing the lawsuit to advance. Meanwhile, Maine’s lobster industry remains substantial, producing over 78 million pounds of lobster valued at more than $460 million last year.