Monterey Bay Aquarium off the hook in Maine lobstermen lawsuit

A federal appeals court has thrown out a defamation lawsuit Maine lobstermen's trade groups filed against the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation over its Seafood Watch program's 2022 red rating of American lobster, which cited the fishery's harm to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The First Circuit reversed a lower court that had let the suit proceed, ruling that a statement about a large group isn't defamation unless it singles out specific members, and the lobster industry doesn't qualify.

The trade groups say the red rating, which steers consumers away from a product, tanked lobster prices by 40%. The aquarium's rating flagged the danger lobster gear poses to a whale species down to fewer than 400 animals in the wild, which can become entangled in buoy lines and drown, starve, or suffer infections from the resulting wounds.

The three-judge panel, all Biden appointees, said the plaintiffs were essentially trying to stretch a narrow exception meant for small, identifiable groups to cover an industry of any size. The aquarium called the ruling a win for consumer guidance programs; an attorney for the lobstermen did not immediately comment.

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