Sweden works on new plan in fight with US over lobster imports

Sweden is not giving up on a long-running battle with the US and Canada over lobsters that have turned up in Swedish waters.

Swedish officials said their country is working on a new proposal about how to deal with American lobsters that have turned up. A controversy about whether American lobsters are invasive in Swedish waters has simmered for almost a year.

The Swedes had wanted the EU to consider a ban of imports of American lobsters. That call came after Sweden announced it had found 32 American lobsters in its waters.

EU officials turned away that request in October after American and Canadian scientists and politicians raised concerns about a lack of evidence that the lobsters warranted such a sweeping ban. But Swedish officials said yesterday the country remains concerned that American lobsters could interfere with European lobsters, which have economic value.

“We are preparing a new proposal on national and regional measures on the American lobster that will be presented for the Swedish government this winter,” said Sofia Brockmark, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management.

Ms Brockmark and other Swedish officials did not provide more details about Sweden’s forthcoming proposal, other than that it will address invasive lobsters with country-wide and regional measures as opposed to an international ban.

Maine is the biggest lobster fishing state in the US, and the New England lobster industry dug in against Sweden’s proposed ban. America sends about $150 million (£121m) worth of lobsters to the EU annually. Canada also sells the same species of lobster to Europe.

Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, said her organisation is working with others in the industry, as well as American and Canadian government agencies, to help prevent American lobsters from escaping into the wild in Europe.

The effort will include educating buyers in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe, Ms Casoni said.

“The goal is to keep them going to Europe and hopefully find some mitigation factors,” she said.

“They hold them in pounds just like over here. Sometimes one or two might escape.”

The EU’S view is that the issue now lies with Sweden, said Iris Petsa, a spokeswoman for the EU’S European Commission.