The Monterey Bay Aquarium lawsuit brought by Maine lobstermen was dismissed Friday after a federal appeals panel rejected their defamation claims tied to the aquarium’s Seafood Watch advisory.
A trial judge had allowed the case from lobstermen trade groups to proceed. The tide shifted at the First Circuit, where a three-judge panel disagreed with the lower court’s use of the group defamation rule, which generally bars claims based on statements about large groups unless specific members are targeted.
The rule carries two exceptions: when a group is so small that a statement can reasonably be understood to refer to each member, or when a statement makes a particular reference to members of the group. The parties agreed the latter exception was at issue, but differed on whether it applied.
Monterey Bay Aquarium lawsuit centered on Seafood Watch rating
In a 32-page decision reversing the lower court, the panel concluded the exception did not apply. U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman wrote that a statement that may apply to every member of a large group is not enough to trigger the particular-reference exception.
The judges said the plaintiffs were effectively urging an expansion of the small-group rationale to groups of any size, and they declined to do so. While the aquarium spoke about the trade groups insofar as they participate in the American lobster fishery, the panel said precedent requires more specificity for defamation liability.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association and allied groups alleged that lobster prices fell by 40 percent after Seafood Watch assigned American lobster a red rating in 2022, advising consumers to avoid it. That rating contrasts with green, or best choice, and yellow, or good alternative, recommendations.
Seafood Watch cited risks to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, a population with fewer than 400 individuals remaining. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whales can become entangled in buoy lines used to mark lobster traps, contributing to hundreds of thousands of marine animal and sea turtle deaths globally each year.
Entanglement can lead to drowning or starvation, severe injuries and infections, and reduced ability to evade vessel strikes. In a statement, the Monterey Bay Aquarium welcomed the ruling, saying consumer choices can influence ocean health and that programs like Seafood Watch help guide sustainable decisions that support fisheries, food security, and coastal communities.
An attorney for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Judges Seth Aframe and Gustavo Gelpí joined Rikelman on the panel, which weighed the reach of courts in defamation disputes much as the Supreme Court is doing in Johnson v. United States Congress.
